Letter: Many are forced needlessly to endure pain

Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003 | 8:53 a.m.

After reading Mike O'Callaghan's Jan. 19 column on pain management, it again brought about fresh memories of my brother's illness and death last July. Though in a Wisconsin hospital, the problem exists worldwide. Pain management is a real and vivid problem that still has not been addressed in this country.

There is no reason any patient, whether terminal or one who suffers from chronic pain, should suffer to that degree of desperation and, most often, depression.

I was told by one of my nieces, a hospice nurse in the Chicago area, that doctors hate the paperwork and justification for narcotics.

These so-called "pain management" centers are clueless. My brother suffered for four months with no relief, let alone the fact that it took two months of tests just to diagnose him.

When a patient is asked to rate their pain on a scale from 1 to 10, and they are existing with 8 or 9 every day, with no relief, except "maybe" down to a 7 ... something is terribly wrong with the system and the scientific approach to this inhumane treatment of patients.

Unfortunately, my brother's only relief came when he was dying in the hospital. He was so drugged and out of it, he could barely communicate. Our only consolation was that his pain had diminished, and that he could answer only with a nod.

Too many of us have witnessed this hopeless situation with loved ones and friends, and we too agonize.

Though a different pain, who will listen? Who will address this problem of suffering? And when?

VICTORIA HILDEN