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From: Playboy Magazine, August, 1997
The scrutiny has led doctors to ration pain medicine
and ignore pain -- necessary restraint in a world of diversion, enforcers would
have us believe. "Even if you treat a patient with a terminal malignancy,
it's irresponsible to write a prescription for 500 Dilaudid tablets," says
Dr. James Winn, executive vice president of the Federation of State Medical
Boards. "If the patient dies three days later, in a legitimate family the
rest should be flushed down the commode. But sometimes a family member picks
them up. We have a major drug problem in this country, and a lot of it comes
from doctors." |
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Re the Above: Undoubtedly the most ignorant and
uncompassionate rationalization for under medicating patients with serious
illnesses and conditions that has been quoted -- you never know when they'll
croak and what happens to the rest of their meds. How patronizing, how pathetic!
Why are these medi-crats so desperate to scare doctors into not performing their
duties to treat patients? It appears the only answer is if meds don't get
prescribed, they can't be "diverted".
That first quote is dated, but beats out the other recent suggestion being
bandied about by the government for pure foolishness -- If you buy from overseas
pharmacies, terrorists could poison the meds. Another ridiculous assertion:
Terrorists always operate quietly in secret cells; it would require too much
collusion with drs., pharmacies, manufacturers, etc and the risk that hopefully
international packages are being screened for chemical weapons, for that to ever
work. But the government still tries to scare us away from proper treatment with
any available "boogieman".
I recall over 30 years ago working as a clerk in an ER. A
man with limited English skills came to me with his recently deceased diabetic
brother's needles and wanted them disposed of properly so they wouldn't end up
in the hands of the devils of that year -- heroin addicts. Nobody on the
available hospital staff had a clue what to do with the needles (or
"works" as they were called on the street).
So there never has been any meaningful plan in place anyway to handle meds, etc.
that are no longer needed.
At that same ER, I witnessed many sad situations. One phenomena that still
stands out in my mind was the treatment that patients afflicted with the painful
condition, Sickle Cell Anemia, received. I learned that Sickle Cell Anemia
patients spent their lives on a torturous roller coaster consisting of periods
where their condition would be in relative remission interspersed with periods
when they would undergo severe pain "crises" of indeterminate
length. These episodes could strike suddenly and at the time, the best and
only treatment available to assist them through their crises were the stronger
pain medicines. So these patients, both children and adults could
potentially turn up at any time of the day or night, writhing in pain and
seeking relief in the ER.
Unfortunately, the general attitude of the staff was that Sickle Cell patients
were only coming in for "drugs". This was true, but they needed
them! Their dependence on pain medicine was not simply a matter of
addiction, their dependence was caused by the fact that they were indeed in
excruciating pain. Still, many on the medical staff appeared to be unable
to make a distinction between those who sought drugs that they desperately
needed to remain pain-free from the heroin addicts, etc. who would come by
seeking drugs to augment or maintain their highs during "dry" periods
in the street narcotics market. The end result was that Sickle Cell
patients, born with a cruel condition that they did not ask for were generally
lumped into the same category with so-called 'drug seekers" who would
travel from ER to ER seeking pain medication for less than therapeutic reasons.
A sadder reality was that the Sickle Cell patients would wait for hours on end
patiently, perhaps used to begging for relief from such inner city
hospitals. Their disease, in many cases coupled with poverty caused by
their disability had beaten them down and they were less than vocal about their
immediate needs. Contrast this with the "professional" drug
seekers who would yell and scream until the staff tired of hearing them and
quickly wrote them a 'script just to be done with them. Well, we never did
hear it claimed that life is fair. |
