Baltimore ERs See Surge in GLP-1 Side Effects, Doctor Warns

Emergency rooms in Baltimore are seeing more patients arrive with complications from GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs, according to a Nov. 10 WBAL-TV report cited by Becker's Hospital Review. Miriam Fischer, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Columbia, Md.-based MedStar Health, said many of these visits are preventable and tied to people buying the medications online and using them without clinical oversight.

The pattern reflects a broader shift in how Americans access drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide. Demand has outpaced the traditional prescribing path, pushing patients toward telehealth platforms, compounding pharmacies and gray-market sellers where dosing guidance and monitoring are thin or absent. Without supervision, patients risk dehydration, severe nausea and vomiting, and other side effects that land them in the ER.

For hospitals, the trend adds avoidable volume and cost. For the industry, it underscores the gap between booming consumer appetite for GLP-1s and the clinical infrastructure needed to prescribe, titrate and monitor them safely.