Hospitals use Dilaudid, Fentanyl, and other stuff that's worse than heroin in that regard.

How so?

More powerful, more addictive.

Not necessarily. Addictiveness is not directly related to potency.

From what I’ve heard, most addicts prefer heroin to fentanyl, even though it’s less potent on a weight basis.

They prefer heroin likely due to the fear of overdose. I pushed the button as often as the Dilaudid dispenser would let me after surgery. It's a pretty magical warm blanket. I understood the appeal immediately. All your worries melt away, and you're floating in a cloud.

Heroin produces a stronger euphoric effect than synthetic and semi-synthetic opioids like Dilaudid and fentanyl relative to its less desirable effects like respiratory suppression. Studies have shown that recreational opioid users prefer heroin to other opioids for this reason.

It is used for patients in palliative care, including US. With special prescriptions.

It's less risky then fentanyl most of the time.

It's still used in a hospital setting.

Yes, in the U.K.

Brompton cocktail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brompton_cocktail#Variants

>Some specifications for variants of Brompton cocktail call for methadone, hydromorphone, diamorphine (heroin), or other strong opioids in the place of morphine.

I don't think heroin is used medically in the US. It's schedule I. It might be used in extremely limited circumstances, but it isn't in use at most hospitals.

Like others are saying, other powerful opioids are used instead.

Very common in the UK in hospital settings. Probably the one of the most used strong painkillers - most people I know who have had painful surgery got it post operation.

A GP could also prescribe it no problems. Indeed there are a small number of people that get it prescribed if other drug treatments have failed.

I'm not sure that I buy that. Fentanyl is prescribed in the US; it's 100x stronger than heroin