FDA issues new safety warning for fentanyl patch.Potent painkiller implicated in hundreds of deaths. SFC, Dec.22,2007.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 risks that doctors and patients often fail to understand. The Food and Drug Administration said the widely used fentanyl patch is being prescribed by doctors to the wrong kinds of patients and misused by patients who are unaware that something as routine as taking a hot shower while wearing the patch can trigger a potentially fatal overdose.[ See ]Image from: www.edrug.org [See ]