#DropTheTennantCase
I was shocked to learn of the Gestapo tactics the DEA organized in the attack against Dr. Forest Tennant. What kind of world do we live in? I am not at all surprised however to see the outrage amongst my peers to rise up in support of Dr. Tennant’s well-mannered and careful dedication to his patients. When asked an open-ended question by a prominent professional group regarding this mockery, my first response was, “Perhaps the DEA did the world a favor – this time they screwed with the wrong person and their bungling actions will reverberate pervasively.” I suspect almost every leading pain clinician scholar will line up to offer expert witness services in support of Dr. Tennant should the DEA contemptuous actions against Dr. Tennant ever make it to court.
If anybody Tweets, posts, or shares any comment on social media, please include this hashtag, #DropTheTennantCase.
In the last few hours we already see two posts, The DEA Raids the Offices of My Friend and Colleague, Dr. Tennant and DEA Raids Dr. Forest Tennant’s Pain Clinic. Keep them coming and be sure to add #DropTheTennantCase.
Dr. Morty Fein was kind enough to provide some backdrop and clever insight to the alternative news associated with the DEA raid on Dr. Tennant and the patients the patients and community that will be harmed as a result.
Here’s what he had to say in his piece entitled,
The Fifth Vital ….Sigh
When there is regime change there is often a purge of anything and everything associated with the prior (often disgraced) movement and its rulers. History gets rewritten and we move on to a new and improved world. In pain politics, the opiophiles have been replaced by the opiophobes in power and every remnant of prior rule, every concept and tenet ends up getting dragged through the mud and discarded. Sigh.
Witness what has happened to the notion of pseudoaddiction. It has been ridiculed without a critical look at its continued importance. Because an executive from a company accused (often correctly but just as often overzealously) of overzealous marketing of opioids wrote an “n of 1 paper” based on a sincere and accurate appraisal of a troubling observation during his early years of pain practice – many years before he left practice and became an executive – the notion has been tied to overpromotion of opioids in the media and by opiophobes. Never mind the fact that the notion is even more important now since the stingy approach to opioid availability is daily leading to even worse pain control for millions and in turn causing desperation. And desperation can lead to people acting in ways that are uncharacteristic of them and their behavior construed as a sign of addiction. Happens every day. Often. Several authors, including the original authors, have over the years written about the need to re-evaluate the concept; not the validity of the observation but in what clinicians need to do to safely respond to it. The answer is not the knee jerk raising of opioid doses that became a bit of a caricature during the early days of the opiophile revolution, but a reappraisal of the totality of the patient’s pain regimen and approach and a sincere respect for the fact that a person taking liberties with their opioids or augmenting with anything including street drugs can indeed trigger a behavioral loss of control that needs to be addressed and not solely relying on improved analgesia to stop the behavior. Loss of control and uncontrolled pain are not mutually exclusive. Regardless of what drives the drug taking behavior and loss of control, abuse and even overdose can result. Perhaps this is why lowering MSEs nationally is not decreasing the number of opioid overdoses and in fact they are increasing them. The notion is self-effacing for us HCPs – that it is our failure to control pain that can drive the desperation and we have the responsibility to help fix it and the behavioral syndrome accompanying it – if anyone has the time and reimbursement anymore in our healthcare system for this much soul-searching and critical thought. Sigh.
And of course, the pain as the 5th vital sign movement has also been ridiculed as a simple ploy by pharma to lead to more pain assessment solely because it would lead to the more opioid prescribing not to simply bring pain and suffering out of the shadows and raise awareness. Outrageous and laughable contend the opiophobes. That people suffer in silence, that they are afraid to tell their health care providers, that unless they are asked they will often assume that discussion of their pain is not the purview of the providers with whom they are interacting is a trite every day observation doesn’t prevent throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Pain as a 5th vital sign is a movement about communication not treatment. Let us not go back to the bad old days of don’t ask don’t tell about pain and suffering. Want to change the name of it? Fine. But we shouldn’t stop efforts to ask about our patients’ experiences of suffering. We should avoid knee jerk reactions driving what we are going to do about it. Simply because someone reports their pain as “8 out of 10” doesn’t mean we should knee jerk raise their opioid dose nor should we knee jerk increase the frequency of their meditation sessions. It requires time and thought and a self-effacing attitude that we can do better for the person and a commitment to do better for the person. If anyone has the time and reimbursement anymore in our healthcare system for this much soul-searching and critical thought. Sigh.
And while we are on the subject of regime change, some of the most expert, most ethical and most erudite former leaders in the opioid movement are being dragged through the mud and the legal system on virtually a daily basis nationwide, tormented by district attorneys and ambulance chasers who would beg any one of them to care for them or their family members if they were stricken with severe and unrelenting chronic pain. Virtually everything they ever wrote, said or did being misportayed and misrepresented as they get held responsible for consequences of treatments that occurred in jurisdictions they never set foot in. As if writing or talking or doing everything they could for opioid safety was just a ploy for pharma to push more drugs. No, it was a move to try to help others if they were going to do opioid therapy to adopt a seriousness and responsibility and acquire expertise like their own. They may have overestimated the integrity of their peers that went on to run pill mills but they never advocated for pill mills. They may have underestimated the size of the gap between their own expertise and that of their brethren that would try to emulate them. But they never advocated for carelessness or lack of responsibility. They wanted us all to take a self-effacing (i.e. that we all need to learn more about pain) and responsible and thoughtful approach. As if anyone has the time and reimbursement anymore in our healthcare system for this much soul-searching and critical thought. Sigh.
This brings me to the raiding of the home and practice of the beloved and venerated Dr. Forest Tennant. His Thanksgiving gift was a storm trooper’s boot in his door – by a cop who has a better sense of what the doctor’s patients need than the doctor (with 50 years plus of experience) does. And who I am certain would beg Dr. Tennant to care for him and his family if they were stricken with unrelenting chronic pain. Dr. Tennant called them and their scare tactics out in an interview right after the events and he intends to fight. Be Brave! Don’t run Forest, don’t run!
Free the Opioid 5 I say.
It is time to stand and fight. Regime change and the re-writing of history must stop now. Our support for these 5 is vital. Sigh.
As always, comments are welcome and encouraged…
Dr. Tennant is a great physician. He has treated many, many people over the years. He cares about his patients.
We always have a “Drug Epidemic”. In the 60’s it was the heroin, in the 70’s it was the Cocaine epidemic, in the 80’s it was the Crack Cocaine Epidemic, and now it’s the opioid epidemic.
But the opioid epidemic is different because it affects real patients not just those who abuse street drugs like other drug epidemics. This one has collateral damage in the pain patients who depend of opioids for pain relief and the pain management physicians who treat them.
The vast majority of pain management physicians are professionals who diagnose and treat their patients to the best of their ability. The doctor patient relationship depends on trust, you need to trust your doctor, and your doctor needs to trust you. Pain management physicians today use pain contracts, drug screens, and pill counts to verify the patient is taking their medicine correctly.
Physicians are not police, and never should be…. The patient’s treatment and quality of life should be their only concern, not being attested by DEA agents.
But when a patient lies to their doctor and diverts pills to the street there’s little the doctor can do. Now it’s law enforcements job to find those diverting pills to the street. It’s not their job to comb through the prescribing physicians records looking for miner mistakes.
If law enforcement wants’ to help stop pills being diverted to the street they should educate physicians on these simple mistakes. Build a relationship of trust rather than fear with physicians. There must be a way to help law enforcement work with physicians who treat pain to make them feel comfortable treating patients again.
I was a patient of Dr William Hurwitz back in 1996. The DEA and the Virginia Medical Board went after him much like they’re going after Dr Tennant. It’s my hope history doesn’t repeat its self, I hope we learned from those patients who lost their lives back them. If you don’t know the history please read The Police State of Medicine by Dr Hurwitz https://www.aapsonline.org/painman/hurwitz.htm
Sadly the war on drugs has made America a nation of suspects, and now physicians are at the top of the list. Do we forget Alcohol still kills 88,000 people each year, and Tobacco kills another 480,000? You can buy both at any corner store and NO Body Needs either one. Pain patients need their medications…
I’m a former narcotics investigator and current pain patient. I’ve been speaking on drug policy for the Law Enforcement Action Partnership since 2003. I’ve seen some positive changes, but this is a step back…..
I’m from Portugal, but having Fibromyalgia and spending time and money with doctors that dont understand anything about this disease, i hope you will find every support.
I’m with you all.
I’m far away, but a good doctor is precious.
Best wishes.
Maria João
What else can we do to help with this situation I say we write every major talk show host AGAIN now they might bite since there’s a juicy DEA STORY BEHIND IT. IT MIGHT MAKE FOR BETTER RATINGS AND JUST WHEN THEY THINK THEY GOT A DR TO CRUIFY PUBLICLY Dr Tennant will finally have his chance that set the world straight on what the Hell is really going on and who the DEA ought be serving up warrants too like the real purpatrsitor who crippled us with non FDA steroid injections and then left out here to suffer It’s the only thing I have come up so far any other ideas on how to reach. Mass media audience ,,? Maybe Megan Kelly would do it. It would be a new person to start with . Let’s flood them all Dr Oz owes it to us he started with one shoe and said there would be a follow up almost 2 years ago. It’s time Dr Oz and get the rest to explain what Adhesive Arachnoiditis is all about this time.
Suggestions??
I consider myself lucky to be. Alive and it’s because of Dr Tennant and his dedication to those of us who suffer from a disease that once was considered rare when I was diagnosed approximately ten years ago. It should be known as The silent epidemic. The DEA ought to be raiding and arresting the physicans and everyone associated with promoting and administering epidural steroid injections that contained depro medrol a steroid that was never approved by the FDA for this use. How dare the DEA go after the one medical professional who has been there to for all the victims who are now left with a life long incurable disease. I am so sick and tired of hearing about this opioid crisis and the blame and focus being put on Drs prescribing unnecessary pain medication to people who didn’t need them and turned them into addicts. I do not understand why there isn’t someone in the entire DEA who has not looked at the Arachnoiditis Crisis. The cover up that has yet to be exposed or acknowledged by any one government agency or bureaucractic good old boys group who have been to chicken shit to come forward and at least offer a public apology on behave of thier colleges for the complete disregard for the human suffering caused by the irresponsible reckless behavior by physicans who were given the right to perform a procedure on patients who were already suffering from horrific pain and willing to try anything for the chance of some relief and trusting the propaganda that these injections were a miracle cure that would give us relief and reduce the need of ongoing opiates. How many of us were ever told that these injections could leave us with a crippling disease and pain equal to that of A stage 4 cancer patient.? Where is the DEA when we need them.? Dr Tennant is a man of integrity and honor. My father also suffered from this disease.He was not fortunate enough to meet Dr Tennant and ended his suffering with a self inflicted gun shot to his head. Do when my Dr retired two years ago and I was unable to find A Dr in my area willing to treat my pain I traveled from Sacramento to southern CA and spent two days, a Saturday and Sunday with Dr Tennant being properly eduacated in my disease and the various medications that could help make my life bearable. He also explained the laws for prescribing and explained get was unable to prescribe meds for me because of the laws that prohibited it. He told me I would have to relocate to southern California in order for him to treat me. I spent ten months trying to find a Dr in my area who would help me. I had a heart attack in February of this year a result of extremely high blood sure caused from uncontrolled pain. In April I had two hernias one strangulated the recovery was a night mare and I found myself attempting to take my life. I wrote Dr Tennant to let him know how much I appreciated him and his devotion to our cause and that I wanted it to be known that my death was a direct result of not being Able to find a Dt with the integrity, courage or devotion to practice medicine According to the oath he. Had taken… That the DEA had bullied, threatened and now we’re the ones controlling the way. Drs are allowed to treat patients and the fear of losing there livelihood was dictating thier treatment. Thank God. For Dr Tennant within 3 hours of. Receiving my email he found a Dr in. My area who had recently attended a lecture. Dr Tennant had given.I was seen in 48 hours and. Have my. Medication back. Just days before the birth of my first. Granddaughter who i would not have. Been here to see if he had not. Come. To my rescue.
#dropthetennantcase
Dr. Forest Tennent life long work has shown me how to try to find relief from my kind of chronic pain, which most pain doctor’s haven’t a clue about, Central Pain Syndrome, I have had this miserable condition for 16 very very long years. When I went 11 years with no idea what was causing my chronic pain, Dr’s like Forest Tennent researched it and showed me through his research on how to get by day to day. I did not want to be on pain pills but when your pain starts ruining your very life and then you isolate yourself from family and friends because your pain is so severe that it blows your mind and body. With my family’s help and all the work that Dr. Tennent did on my condition, I found out that in my case, I needed it since nothing else out there worked for me and I tried everything with my former pain doctor. Today I have no one other than my family and friends that will keep my pain down to a livable level. God sent doctors like Dr. Tennent for people like me and the people behind his raid should go home and slap themselves!!!!!! I hope they and their loved ones never get a chronic pain condition that ruins every part of their life.
Thank you Dr. Fudin and Dr Fein, all of your words are wonderful, and show that you all get the issues surrounding our intractable pain and our lack of treatment. I find it deplorable that they have went after one of the most knowledgeable if not the most knowledgeable doctor in the field. I love the comment about how a cop and the doctor and agree – if it was the Cops family member or self in our shoes he would be banging down Dr T’s door.
Thank you very much for printing.
I think it’s interesting that Dr. Tennant is one of the hundred plus who signed a letter to Braidis University calling for the firing of Dr. Kolodny. This comes across as retribution not an investigation against a so called “plll mill.” I’ve never met Dr. Tennant, but I’ve seen him in numerous videos and news reports and I’ve rarely seen someone more knowledgeable. This is an effort to silence those fighting for the treatment of patients needing treatment and trying to stop the opio-hysteria that had dominated the government bureaucracy.
I felt Hope and Compassion when ever I read or watched Doctor FORREST Tennent as He spoke up and Fought for all Humanity suffering in Pain,,along with many others this Doctor instilled in the Pain Community a sense of Dignity that sadly has been felt by many as we were deserted one at a time by the Health Industry, The DEA needs to look at how the fentynal along with carfentynil are making it to our streets in America,,it just seems odd to me that at the time the Government is taking away our Pain meds and making it virtually impossible to find a Doctor to treat our pain,,the flood gates of all the Heroin and Fentanyl along with carfentynil are so available to me it seems like a conspiracy,,just look up the word conspiracy,,it should peek Your interest as well,,it’s plausible..
When the Government has to go after Good Doctors then I feel they are trying to hide the real meaning of this whole mess of prosecuting innocent Doctors ,,who’ve done nothing wrong but stand by their Hippocratic oath,,To Do No Harm,, while the DEA turns a blind eye to all the illegal drugs that are coming across our boarders,,of course they’ll make it hard for the innocent People who are suffering in pain!! so we may turn to the Black market and purchase the illegal drugs to keep the Governments rehabs open and running while filling the pockets of those in power ,like Prop and Kolodney and any others who’ve made the decision to take life saving Pain meds away from anyone suffering in Horrific pain #Drop the Tennant Case……
Thank you Dr. Fudin for allowing this platform for Dr. Fein’s excellent blog entry! As patients and advocates of Dr. Tennant’s, we are standing strong and fighting these false allegations. It is so very moving, beyond words, to see so many in both the patient & medical community come out in defense of Dr. Tennant and his many decades of unparalleled service to his patients and the community especially after just having been honored to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award! #DropTheTennantCase !!! Thank you for all you do! Denise R Molohon
Though I am not a patient of Forest Tennant, he has helped me understand my pain condition and avoid opioids!! Thanks to him I am far better off than I would have been on opioids. Unfortunately many of my fellow chronic pain sufferers have horrific levels of pain that require large quantities of whatever works for them – in many cases that means opioids!!
By impeding Dr. Tenant, DEA is harming a good physician’s patients and I promise you, there will be blood on your hands. Many opioid “overdoses” are actually suicide when the patient realizes they won’t be given enough medicine to control their pain. It’s quite simple when you think about it. Most of these ODs are NOT accidents, and you are simply causing more pain and much more death. Of course you’ll be able to get the number of ODs down if you cut opioids, but you will INCREASE the number of chronic pain patient suicides – some with opioids, some otherwise – for sure.
Thanks to the government and the DEA, CDC, FDA … you name it! It’s a conspiracy against people … disabled due to illness or injury suffering severe, unrelenting pain. Every day, all day. What FEW doctors who are willing to take a stand against the humanity afforded to these patients, THE DEA IS DELIBERATELY BUSTING AND TAKING THEIR ASSETS. Let’s talk TRUTH for once. Prescriptions ARE NOT driving the heroin problems. When will it stop? What will it take? If it’s genocide, like many believe, MAN UP AND SAY IT. Otherwise, hey DEA! Put your big boy pants on and do your job. You don’t own us. You don’t know what we go thru every day. #DropTheTennantCase
I am a patient of Dr Tennant and he has turned my life around. In fact he’s the only reason I live any kind of life. I’m willing to talk to whoever I need to talk to or testify wherever I need to testify. I’ll fly to D.C. if that’s what I need to do. These government nitwits are putting me and people like me in danger. What else can I do to help? I’ll do it!!!
Phone calling & letter writing aren’t working, obviously! What else can we do to stop this witch hunt? I am an intractable pain patient and I need another surgery but I’m scared to do it because I heal slowly due to the underlying disease process. No one is going to be willing to manage my pain so I’m stuck.
This is another aspect of this scourge that will affect many people. The DEA wants to legislate wow long and how much pain medication someone can receive after surgery/injury! Can you imagine that world? I can now and it’s making me sicker, worrying about when the politicians will decide to take away the only thing keeping me alive. The stress of that much pain will finish me quickly (I hope), as I have tried so hard to live without opioids and found it impossible.
I encourage you to look into the Alliance for the Treatment of Intractable Pain – https://www.facebook.com/ATIPUSA/
Though I am not a patient of Forest Tennant, he has helped me understand my pain condition and avoid opioids!! Thanks to him I am far better off than I would have been on opioids. Unfortunately many of my fellow chronic pain sufferers have horrific levels of pain that require large quantities of whatever works for them – in many cases that means opioids!!
By impeding Dr. Tenant, the FDA is harming a good physician’s patients and I promise you, there is blood on your hands. Many opioid “overdoses” are actually suicide when the patient realizes they won’t be given enough medicine to control their pain. It’s quite simple when you think about it. Most of these ODs are NOT accidents, and you are simply causing more pain and much more death. Of course you’ll be able to get the number of ODs down if you cut opioids, but you will INCREASE the number of chronic pain patient suicides for sure. Do you care, or are you just doing your job regardless of the outcomes?
This appalling personal attack the DEA call a raid on Dr.Forest Tennant is not only shocking it’s unbelievable. I am beyond disgusted & have never been so angered by our so called government agencies that supposedly are working for the people but only continue to make matters worse. The DEA’s failure to do their job is what has helped create what should have been called the Heroin/Fentynal epidemic. The DEA is desperate to point the finger at others since they have continued to allow the flow of these lethal drug mixes of Heroin & Fentynal to continue flooding into our country & onto our streets unabated. The real problem is the illegal street drugs causing drug over doses it is not doctors & patients. The DEA raid on Dr. Tennant is their attempt to cause other doctors such fear they won’t continue treating chronic pain patients with legal opioid medications the Gold Standard for pain relief medications for decades. Dr. Forrest Tennant has done nothing wrong he is legally prescribing legal opioid pain relief medications to his medical patients for the best possible health response for each chronically ill incurable pain disease patients & that isn’t a crime. He is preventing medical patients from the torture of living with untreated pain that has already caused so many patients deaths. The DEA should be ashamed of the illegal drugs they allow criminals to bring in but raid upstanding citizens respected doctors such as Dr. Tennant.. .
Dr. Tennant is an amazing physician who has provided exemplary care to his patients. He has responsibly and successfully managed pain to patients who have a wide range of medical complications. He is a patient advocate whose integrity is irreproachable. The DEA’s interference in medical practices is causing human casualties at a massive and climbing levels.
Their unwarranted attack on Dr. Tennant with claims that his patients couldn’t survive at such levels that they must be selling them is beyond absurd. I am a chronic pain patient. I have multiple sclerosis and a plethora other health issues that left me in unimaginable pain. I had a phenomenal doctor in Pennsylvania and he managed my pain for 5 years. I was able to cook for myself, clean my home, take care of my dogs, and have some quality in my life. I had to move to Tennessee. I then came under the care of a physician in Tennessee. He made claims of my medicine being at malpractice levels and for me to just give him time, he could manage my pain. Well I’ve been with him for 3 years and I have gone from the person that had a great quality of life to one who is unable to leave my bed except …
when I have to make trips to the bathroom with the use of a walker. I have a caregiver, I can no longer cook and/or clean for myself, and his last solution was, I needed to get in a wheelchair! Should, he make claims of my medications being at malpractice levels? I think not!
That’s not acceptable, so he offered the pain pump and that is the only choice I have. It’s either that or?
I told my story above to explain that different patients require different medications and different amounts of them. Those amounts can be quite high that’s the nature of pain management properly done if the patient is have quality of life! The doctor being a patient advocate keeping patience safe at all times.
The DEA does not work with patient one! Unless, they have proof that a patient is selling medication? Which, they do not… because it is not happening!
Dr. Tennant deserves a Nobel Peace Prize that has been said by many and I agree! He doesn’t deserve the DEA trying to ruin his practice!
#TENNANTRIBE #opioidrefugee #chronicpain #DEA #CDC #ADA #THEWHITEHOUSE #WEAREHUMANTOO #PAINISTOOMUCH #Trump
I’m glad people are jumping on the defense of Dr. Tennant. But what I hope is that through this attack, Americans wake up to the fact that innocent doctors across the country are in prison, have their lives destroyed, for being a REAL doctor. As one of those, and the list of 1000 others can be found on my website, doctorsofcourage.org, I hope that people will finally fight this in a unified effort. Join doctorsofcourage. The membership site is in formation stage, but you can sign up to be notified when it is ready. Together, medical professionals and chronic pain patients CAN turn this opiaphobic paradigm around. Learn the REAL cause of drug abuse (a video on DoC) as well as How the law is being used illegally (also a video). Communicate your anger with your health issues staff person for all of your legislators. Writing your ire on comments like this will do no good. If you don’t know your health issues staff persons names or phone numbers, contact me on DoctorsofCourage and ask. I’ll give them to you.
My dad has paid the ultimate price. …. july 10,2016…..shameful!!! 69 yrs old. They (*DEA & PAM BONDI ) had his meds so behind or not at all… too bad they dont have anyone in their family that is a patient. I never wish that on anyone…my BEST FRIEND IS GONE!!!
Over the years the DEA has been attacking the smaller practices that provided non-interventional pain care across the country. A small number of those were pill mills, but all bear the label wrongfully attached. There are few doctors left to treat pain patients, and Dr. Tennant is one of the few remaining. With the DEA’s March Across the US, like Sherman’s March through Georgia laying waste and destruction in its wake, the goal is to instill fear of the enforcer among all those in its path. But Sherman destroyed buildings and property; the DEA et.al. destroy lives of patients as well as doctors and impose unspeakable enhanced torture on the ultimate victims: the people who live in unending daily torturous pain and their care givers.
And the people in pain and their doctors are not the ones who are flooding the streets with toxic poisons. Those poisons, in the DEA’s terminology, are “Illegally Manufactured Fentanyl” derivatives. According to the DEA, these IMF poisons come from China and are delivered by none other than the US Post Office. And the DEA has done precious little to stem the flow of these deadly poisons.
And keep in mind that the people in pain and people who are dying of overdose are two distinct albeit overlapping populations. People with chronic pain are generally older while those who are overdosing are younger. A large proportion of chronic pain patients will have undergone some form of invasive treatment, however misguided. Some will have had their pain escalated by the shots. Eighty plus people have died from the steroids injected from contaminated steroids. Addicts and those who are overdosing will rarely have undergone invasive treatments aimed at pain control.
So lets call this what it is using medical diagnoses and medical assessment. The entire scenario, with Dr. Forest Tennant as the latest target, can be medically described as a collosal conglomerate of “Factitious Disease Imposed on Another” (FDIA) as described in the DSM-V. Using the description in DSM-V, the doctors AND their pain patients are the victims, wrongfully and incorrectly (Factitiously) being labeled as drug dealers, addicts and the primary cause of the drug death epidemic. But pain patients and pain doctors and pharmacists have no access to the illegal poisons (IMFs) that killing too many Americans. In this way the doctors like Forest Tennant and the pain patients become the “Victims” with the factitiously imposed disease.
In the same model the person or group with the diagnosis of imposing the factitious disease are the perpetrators. In the scenario of chronic pain, the Perpetrators, who have done absolutely NOTHING to further the understanding and management of chronic pain and its torture, are groups like the CDC, DEA, Police agencies, Groups like PROP, and many news outlets.
Ironically their diversion of attention away from legitimate chronic pain management does great harm to the very group they are claiming to protect: those who are overdosing either due to addiction or recreational abuse of the IMFs. Even the term “overdose” is a misnomer in the presence of substances such as carfentanil because of its deadly potency. The failure of the DEA to control these deadly poisons also raises the risk level for innocent people from accidental exposure to mishandled toxins.
So my fellows in the pain community, it is time to formally charge the DEA and the others in the anti-opioid consortium with what they are really doing: Perpetrating a colossal and deadly game of Factitious Disease Imposed on Another. The treatment, as set forth in DSM-V is legal protection of the victims. It is time to ask that the DEA and all of the anti-medicinal-opioid consortium be removed from any interference with legitimate pain care unless it is cleared by a special court.
If left unchecked the anti-medicinal-opioid consortium will wreak more enhanced torture on the population of chronic pain patients. It will wreak increased death by suicide among the pain patients who cannot tolerate the enhanced torturous pain. AND it will result in further exponential deaths from IMFs flooding the market of addicts and recreational abusers as the flow of IMFs goes unchecked.
Ty..I agree.
Dr Fudin,
Thank you for writing a brilliant article calling for the pain community to fight for the most empathetic wonderful doctor I have ever had the pleasure of seeing for pain management. You are a hero writing about another great hero!
Thank you, but credits belong to Dr. Fein. 🙂
I am without words at this travesty. When a physician as gifted as Dr Tennant, who’s dedicated his life’s work to chronic pain is treated like a common criminal by our government, something is desperately wrong. We must all speak up against the overreach of the DEA.
Evil. Unethical. Cruel.
If a patient is diverting their meds, tell the doc! Doctors are mandated reporters regarding abuse, violence, and matters of dangerousness. Failure by law enforcement to warn a doctor about a bad patient is entrapment at best and it is unethically dangerous at worst…
I am a pain patient of Dr. Tennant’s (for 10 years now), diagnosed with Adhesive Arachnoiditis. When Dr. Tennant had his heart problem last year and was afraid he would be unable to return to practice he asked us (his patients) to look to other Dr.s to continue our treatment. My wife called at least 15 pain Dr.s to see about moving to their clinics and not one would accept us because of the high opioid therapy necessary for my condition.
About the same time we heard that the State Medical Board was investigating Dr. Tennant for over prescription of opiates. His friends and patients all rallied around him and the Board took the time to look into Dr. Tennant’s practice, coming to the conclusion Dr. Tennant provides a critical service for patients with rare and extreme diseases.
Now the DEA arrives on the scene with obviously no investigative work beforehand, the proverbial shoot first ask questions later. Or, perhaps they did do their homework and decided to attack the very basis of Chronic Pain treatment and a vocal advocate of responsible opioid use to make peoples quality of life, well livable. In either case, it’s time to rally and make our mental and physical pain heard.
We’re with you Dr. Tennant!
Thought n good vibes are with you my friend … my daddy is dead because of this BULLSHIT!!!!
Who amongst us is Not afraid? The DEA seizes assets. Self funds and Carries Guns. How the heck did this happen?
Follow the money. Thats How.
If you are accused, go try to find someone to help you? The medical board , medicare, insurance companies sudden gang up on the Doctor.Your friends disappear. No Fantasy. Medical Boards have all jumped on the guilty until proven innocent bandwagon.
I offered to help 2 colleagues and I did. Their attorneys thought they had it all covered. Would use my 30 plus years of knowledge and experience. In stead hired an expert for 50,000 dollars.
One got 20 years in Federal Prison.
I may not have made a difference, but I am willing to help my colleagues. Is it right to charge 50,000 for a colleague.
You will have to decide.
The Lawyers charged almost 2 million dollars.
If anyone need help, please feel free to contact me.
My name is
Dr Arnold Feldman
docharley@aol.com
225 939 1252
I will try to help you.
Dr. Fudin,
Thank you so much for speaking up on Dr. Tennant’s behalf. As a patient advocate, volunteer worker at Dr. Tennant’s clinic, and wife of one of his patients, I am convinced that patients and families must speak up but so must other doctors. Thank you for leading the way!
Kristen Ogden, Patient Advocate
Amen to this Post!
All in the pain community will stand with Dr Tennent!
Boy did they ever mess with the wrong man this time.
We will all Fight for This wonderful, compassionate doctor. ❤️❤️