FDA renews alert on painkiller patch

Los Angeles Times: "WASHINGTON -- The government issued a new safety warning Friday for a skin patch containing a potent painkiller that has been implicated in hundreds of deaths, saying the patch poses unique risks that doctors and patients often fail to understand.

The Food and Drug Administration said the widely used fentanyl patch was being wrongly prescribed by doctors and being misused by patients unaware that something as routine as taking a hot shower while wearing the patch could trigger a potentially fatal overdose."