I don’t understand why the media continues to miss the bottom line problem and source in this issue, which is the shamefully inadequate, ill-prepared number of physicians, who have created this medical scandal. Not to mention the agencies like the above “ pain foundation, who sisnce the 90’s has had one mantra: We need more pain treatment and the utilization of narcotics for pain. Huge amounts of self serving reports, studies, propaganda, were cleverly marketed to physicians in the 90’s to get them to prescribe opiates more liberally. Physicians in turn, contributed enmass to this situation by irresponsibly relying on profit driven agencies to tell/teach them their medicine. That’s a scandal of itself. Physicians, in the thousands, who, like the majority of (narcotic) licensed doctors, had (continue to have) less than 8 HOURS of pain management, narcotic dispensing, and pain medication training and education during their schooling. Now who doesn’t think that’s a mighty big problem?

10 years ago Pain Org’s professed that less than 1% of chronic pain patients became addicted. That’s not true. It came from “junk science” and independent doctors are just now scrambling to do the research that should have been done back then, before enticing every Dr. Tom, Dick, and Harry to dispense these dangerous and potentially deadly drugs so liberally.

The debate relevant to the outrageous numbers of never before seen death, overdose, elderly addiction, “accidental addiction, etc. is only due to greed and ignorance. It is a medical scandal and disgrace. Thousands of doctors have inappropriately over-prescribed narcotics/opiates to thousands of patients.

The Pain foundations would have you think this is about some crisis of undertreated pain. Or the problem rises out of bad patients who trick doctors, or take their medication incorrectly. Or “just a few” bad apple doctors. Or street addicts. Or even the DEA. All of which has been used to terrify the suffereing pain patient into thinking that those issues are ruining their opportunity to get adequate pain care. It’s not true.

What is the Federation of medical boards doing with these numbers and statistics? If they answer “ We are now instituting more education and training”, I rest my case. Too late. Too little. People are dead. Unsuspecting “accidental” addicts have been created. Families have been devestated.

We need a system that delivers appropriate pain treatment (as well as therapy) to appropriate pain patients, by appropriate/trained pain physicians, based on well founded medical principals. And it doesn’t take a genius to know that the science of pain should NEVER be funded by pharmaceutical manufacturers. Don’tcha think?
I know Pain treatment isn’t brain surgery, but it is no less a matter of life and death, when handled poorly

Annie