– Hello, Mr. President, Our Country has a Major Crisis of Chronic Pain
Please join me in welcoming guest blogger patient advocates Christin Veasley and Amy Goldstein, who co-facilitate the Consumer Pain Advocacy Task Force! Here’s what they have to say…
The purpose of this blogpost is simple – we need you to be 1 of the 100,000 people that will sign this vital White House Petition by August 12 to get the President to act on the National Pain Strategy!
The National Pain Strategy (NPS) – our nation’s first strategic roadmap to addressing the country’s chronic pain crisis – is very familiar to some and a total enigma to most. Lost in the opioid-focused shuffle of late, the NPS has received very little attention—from the media, lawmakers, and the public. Yet, if funded and implemented, the NPS stands to markedly transform how our country thinks about and treats chronic pain. It will, without a doubt, save thousands of lives and improve quality of life for millions. And yes, it will bring desperately needed education to our healthcare professionals about all available therapies used to manage pain, including non-pharmacological options, as well as promote appropriate reimbursement of those therapies. As so much of the nation’s attention and action is focused on decreasing the use of opioids, it is essential that, in parallel, the NPS receive equal action so that thousands more won’t live and die in pain from lack of proper assessment and care (please pause on the word “care”…we mean it in every sense of the word).
Two years ago, 16 patient and consumer advocacy organizations united to form the Consumer Pain Advocacy Task Force (CPATF), which has one common goal – to promote the implementation of the NPS. One outcome from the CPATF’s efforts is that 72 organizations signed onto a letter sent to Congress in April with the same message that is in this White House Petition. At its heart, the message is simple: Please hold the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services accountable for implementing the NPS.
You can rest assured that if we don’t come together on this petition, the NPS may become yet another hard-earned report that collects dust on a shelf. The NPS is the first and only strategic plan of its kind that summarizes many real-life challenges for people with pain, explains why excellent pain care is not widely accessible, and literally maps out how we begin to fix this crisis.
Sign and Share! Let the White House know this is important. Read more about our collective social media efforts and Sign and Share the Petition before August 12, 2016. For background and additional information on the NPS, read more.
Comments here of course are always welcome too!
Christin Veasley and Amy Goldstein co-facilitate the Consumer Pain Advocacy Task Force.
Christin Veasley is the co-founding director of the Chronic Pain Research Alliance, the country’s first
and only advocacy initiative dedicated to advancing a strategic research, translational and industry effort
on co-existing chronic pain disorders. She’s lived with chronic pain since surviving an accident in her teens,
which led her to pursue a science degree, time conducting neuroscience research and to the research
advocacy community. Through involvement in a number of diverse alliances, initiatives, and committees,
her life’s work has focused on advancing rigorous pain research and expediting the translation of scientific
discoveries into meaningful clinical change for people with chronic pain.
Amy Goldstein, MSW, is the director of the State Pain Policy Advocacy Network (SPPAN) for the Academy of Integrative
Pain Management. Ms. Goldstein works daily to coordinate action that will improve state and federal policies that affect pain care.
The SPPAN team tracks hundreds of relevant policies, cultivates alliances among advocacy leaders to promote person-centered care,
and presents scores of letters and testimony every year. Before moving into full-time advocacy work, Ms. Goldstein spent years
as a clinical social worker supporting people living with cancer, multiple sclerosis, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS, and substance use
disorder. Her true passion is advocacy and working to improve the quality of life for people with chronic conditions.
Real paitents need these meds, make manditory urine screens u come up dirty ur out, do goes are required on every visit to check the pmp if they went to another doc or filled another prescription there kicked out it’s simple. You have legit paitents now killing themselves or using other illict or illegal drugs to help with the pain, or they think there buying the same thing the doctor gave them and it’s fentyl and they die, we need more doctors one and two doctors that are willing to work with paitents and understand when uv tried everything else acupuncture, physical therapy, injections, serigeries if u decide to, but when all other measures have been exhausted these meds are the last resort and alot of times work and help and can extend someone’s life and make life worth living, we need doctors that are passionate,understanding, knowledable, and not scared to actually help and the government needs to give them some room most doctors won’t even care to help or wrote a prescription, if things that we were doing now we’re working then why is the overdose rate increased and overdoses and even deaths been higher then ever, cause legit people aren’t able to get there meds anymore, alot of people are just giving up everyday is a fight, every do for visit heart Renching and anxiety that if u can even find a doctor that he just says one day I’m done, there’s so much pressure on doctors they won’t even be bothered with helping someone…. We need to be putting in efforts to stop the heroine and more importantly the fentyl and car fentyl, and as screwed up as it’s to say atleast when things were bad they were alot safer then they are now yes there was a problem and it needed to be addressed but it was when the pmp came into effect and when some docs got in trouble that were doing the wrong thing… The mediea has totally controlled and exaggerated things yes some people started on pills but should tons of legit people suffer there’s a middle ground but doctors nee dto be let back to make decisions without the gear of losing there lisences or job they worked years to get they need to be educated that these meds can be used and there is a spot for them expecially people that have been on them for years, I just hopefully things ease up and doctors are able to help people again without worrying about being locked up or losing there liscence
I have suffered with chronic pain for several years and been on pain medication prescribed by my doctor.I have severe and on going degenerative disc disease To the point of the discs becoming non -existent between my vertebrae’s in the thoracic area of the spine. The Many doctors I have seen will not do surgery on in that area because they said I would become paralyzed. I said I would much rather become paralyzed and have the surgery than to live in chronic pain ! I would do anything in this world to not have to take Pain medication even at the expense of never walking again ! I have done acupuncture, physical therapy, the tens unit, chiropractic care , been under a pain specialist care team , seen Pain psychiatrist and gone to exercise programs specifically for pain and nothing has helped . My pain medication does not make me high It only helps the pain.
I got a medical marijuana card thinking that that would help and I could go off my pain medication ( this was when it was legalized in Oregon and prior to me being cut back and being told I was going to have it all taken away ) it did nothing for my pain and made me feel so high I hated it ! I could not even walk on it let alone sit and talk to someone normally !!
The only excuse they give me for getting me off of My pain medication is by telling me I will feel much better and that people are dying because of it ! Well I would rather be dead then to think of the rest of my life isolated, alone and in agony every single day and night!
I have never asked for my pain pills early, I have never gotten them illegally and I have never taken more than prescribed ! No one seems to care the hell people like myself live in between my time of taking my medication now and until I can take my next dose as that is getting further and further apart and soon I will have nothing to relieve it ! They will see a lot of suicides because of this because no one can live this way !
In the 60s heroin was the worst drug you ever heard of and there was an epidemic and you heard of people dying all the time because of this horrific drug! But then that went away and then cocaine came in, and then meth! But meth is getting much more expensive for the addicts To use and heroin is cheap on the streets. This information is through a well-known addict that I know of that is in his 30s .
Teens who started out by using pain pills to get high it was usually from someone else not a doctor( or if it was it was by a doctor prescribing some for example a dental procedure or surgery ) or by stealing their parents medication or someone else’s or jumped from pills to heroin!! Pain pills on the street are extremely expensive aland that is why there is so much crime involved and why these people have turned heroin ! This is all craziness to cause more harm to those physically impaired by pain compared to those who are street addicts who have OD and died from addiction!! I bet if they did a survey they would see that it is the street users, the illegal users Or the elderly who have dementia and forget what they have taken and have no one to oversee their intake And they easily forget if they have taken them or not !
Yes people are dying but not patients who are being monitored by their doctor and are using Pain medication for a real pain! Unless as I said it’s the elderly with dementia .
I think it’s all about money because all of these people being cut off without cutting down slowly are going to need methadone or Suboxone in order to survive the withdrawals and the reality is that is going to cost a whole heck of a lot more money! These drugs are expensive and most studies say methadone and Suboxone are much, much harder to get off of than the original pain pills they were taken off of! And you have to be on them for years and years!
The government needs to do a survey people who died From opioid overdoses And find out if they really had a prescription of their own or if indeed it is true they are getting them illegally And because of the high cost of each pill ( that can be as high as $30 each on the street )!have resorted to heroin because of the high cost of pills !! When someone dies from that it is still considered an opioid related death; and of course they throw that in with pain medication deaths! There is a huge difference !
Plus the fact that illegally used Pain medication’s people will stop and then start right back up where they left off So if it was 10 pills a day or 20 pills a day they will take that same amount after being off of it and it will kill them ! That’s a VERY huge part of these causing deaths along with heroin related deaths!
The US is going to see an onslaught Like they have never seen before in the history of suicide caused by pain patients being cut off and having no reason to live because they cannot live in agonizing life stealing Pain !
There are so many teenage suicides today Well that amount is going to go into the hundreds of thousands because of what the government is doing. And families are going to be destroyed and there will be more suicides because it is a well-known fact if a family member committs suicide It has a domino affect on other members in the family!! So many sadly follow suit.
I will put money on the fact that those who are passing these bills do you not live in chronic debilitating pain!!
We are so with you all but we cannot get the petition to load when you click the link to sign it it just keep coming up with the 404 page can’t be found error….
Please help if your can
kkatron@comcast.net
Ron, The petition expired months ago and the opportunity to sign is past. Thank you for your efforts!
It’s time to send another one because there will be more deaths and people are hurting who live in chronic pain debilitating and the quality of life is almost not worth living so they need to take another look at this whole situation and let the doctors be the ones to decide if the patient needs the pain medications so that they have some quality of life it’s time for a change get the drugs off the street cuz now they’re putting the fentanyl in fake pills that are killing people there’s more death now than there was when it was legal to go to your doctor and your doctor would give you medicines this something needs to be changed with this Christy I think that this on the way out to get even when people because they didn’t like them and Trump just went along with itpeople living in chronic pain should be able to live some quality of life with dignity and respect I believe it’s up to the doctor and the patient they know the facts and they can deal with it better than somebody sitting on some panel deciding no drugs for no one
I have nerve damage in both legs also I just had ACDF replacing 5and 6 and spacers in between 4 and 7 .bilteral arthirits in both knees a frozen shoulder .I know they are going to want to do another fusion on L 3 and 4 ..I had the ACDF to be able to use my left arm .I know have constant nerve pain in neck and head down whole spine both shoulder right and left side finger permanent neuropathy in legs feet and toes .The Drs refused to help me because of the opioids epidemic .I couldn’t stand the nerve pain anymore nor do I want anymore surgeries at this time as I was tortured for 2 years had pt 13 injection in 6 month last 10 caused more pain . The Drs gave me 7 days worth of pain medicine and said don’t call back .Ended up in the hospital after I fell I developed balance issues after surgery .Try to walk daily
Then sit in my recliner .I was suicidal then decided if you can’t beat them join em . I went to a methadone clinic .Im still have pain but it help with the nerve pain in legs and feet . I’m still hoping a dr will help me . They apologist for not doing the surgery sooner but you can’t say the word pain .im 52 years old and I had to help myself . I spent 2 years in bed writhing in pain went to the emergency room they said the can.t help me .I HAD To MUCH Pain .WHy Don’t they treat our pain instead of denying it exsist .
I also am one of the millions in pain having their meds reduced to the point that they are no longer effective. Nobody will stand up for pain patients.Not even the providers who know their patients are in pain and are compliant with their meds. Chronic pain patients are not the problem with the opioid epidemic.
I have been on opiates well over 10 years and have never failed one of my doctor’s drug tests or asked for a early refill and my life has been significantly improved because of my meds. Am I now to be pushed onto the streets to find a street dealer to get proper pain control ?What a lot of people will not acknowledge is that opiates are the ONLY thing that work for millions of people. Most have tried all the PT,injections,etc.
Nobody really takes pain meds because they like it. They take it because it greatly improves their quality of life and makes them feel human again. I don’t see a place on this page to sign a petition,but something needs to be done fast because a lot of people are being profiled as drug addicts when they are not. They are just people who have has accidents or surgery or whatever and are in pain. I apologize that I can’t go buy a bottle of advil and it stop my pain,but I can’t because it won’t stop the pain. I certainly hope someone will come to their senses and realize pain patients are not the problem and never have been,but now we have all been stereotyped as sleazy drug addicts. And the heroin problem will rage on claiming more and more lives. Are we to be one of the most advanced countries in the world with people in agony all over the country ? HELP !
I agree. I am a chronic pain patient. I do not abuse my meds and I keep getting lowered due to the addicts that are not in pain management. This is my life, I had some sort of quality of life and now the pain patients feel like we’re all being discriminated against. It’s not right. We should not have to suffer. The cut of the dosing leaves me hurting more then before. I just want to be noticed as someone who uses my medicine to get through day by day. It’s wrong to punish us or think we don’t need any medicine. Just because I have round the clock constant pain does not quality me to take a Tylenol and be okay. I’m speaking for a lot of people. Why can’t we be heard. We don’t want to live in pain. If the law makers felt the pain we do, how would they feel. Please come together and fight for our right to live with controlled Pain.
Thank You
If 90 mgs per day is the MAX per state, why won;t HARTFORD HOSPITAL (CT) PAIN MANAGEMENT restricting me to 15mgs? I am fused from L-3-4-5 & S-I PLUS 4 levels in my cervical spine thanks to a DRUNK DRIVER. She got a new car and I got force weaned down to a spit in the oceans worth of Oxycodone.
I see hanging myself in my future with a list of every doctor that was a part of torturing me while knowing my condition is REAL, Pain management even said to me, ” You back is a hot mess” & “We are not worried about you” (about my dose of Oxycodone) If you are not worried why not allow me 5 mgs a day more? 5 mgs is the smallest dose available and it would bring me up to 20 mgs per day way under the 90 mg max. 10 mgs TID would be ideal.
I feel worthless because I cannot do much the way I am. Who spend every day packed with ice>
I DO! That is my world now.I watch my family come and go while I suffer in a reclining chair. POLITICIANS are not spinal experts. Learn to read MRI’s before you raid offices. If you saw why we are prescribed pain medication you might notice how horrible you are being toward us.
I am determined to sign as many of these as I can, due to certain people who either abuse their medication or those using illegal drugs, what the DEA and Congress is doing is keeping chronic pain sufferers to not get the medication they need to have a semi normal life. In addition to this my pharmacy is requiring you two have a non narcotic medicine for every narcotic prescription and since I have my pharmacy coverage through Tri-Care for Life and they require that I get everything that I can through them or pay full price, and since I have been on disability since 2006, I certainly cannot afford to do that, besides I really don’t have but 2 non narcotic medicines. Please stop meddling in our medical treatment.
I have had chronic pain for numerous disc problems for about 25 years now. With my opiate pain meds I was able to do most of my household chores (I have been disabled for 11 years ) but my doctor cuts my pain meds monthly and I can barely clean myself and I have to force myself to cook dinner for myself and my husband. I am forced to be alone all day with no friends or family close by and now the government is forcing me to not be able to even be able to go see my children and grandchildren. I haven’t been depressed but this is causing me to lose hope. I know that as long as I have God in my life,there is hope, but this is causing me to really struggle. Our care Should be between us and our doctor so please stay out of my medical care. Let our DOCTORS treat us not the government.
Dear Dr. Fudin, Thank you so much for all you are doing for the chronic pain patients! Please continue to speak out bc we need all the help we can get! I am interested in the link of suicides and chronic pain patients…those that have had their pain medications taken away or are so undertreated that they can no longer live their life in pain. We are working with an investigative reporter that wants to do an in-depth news story on the plight of the chronic pain patient. He wants to center his story around the harm that is being done by the government to chronic pain patients bc of the new CDC guidelines and the fear of all doctors prescribing opioid pain medication. I know there is a huge link but I have not been able to supply him first hand knowledge of the suicide connection. He wants to build his story out from there. I would appreciate any information you can send me. My email address is chronicsufferer1957@gmail.com If you are interested in discussing this matter with him, let me know and I will make sure you get to talk with him. My husband and I both suffer from chronic pain and are barely able to hang on praying we don’t become a statistic! Thank you again for all you are doing for the chronic pain sufferer! We need a good voice in this matter!
Dr. Fudin,
Well, I signed and shared and shared, begged, pleaded and Tweeted to no avail. I found out a few days before the petition was due to expire, chronic pain patients apparently don’t agree with some aspects of the National Pain Strategy.
In one well known, highly active group, one of the members stated there was a very good reason to not sign the petition. This group member enlightened us to the fact that “many have turned away from endorsement for the national pain strategy. It was pushed out to chronic pain patients as being a great step forward for continuing treatment of pain. However, it does nothing to ensure access to opioid medications, it specifically states to move away from opioid based treatment of pain, and I’d venture to say actually furthers the stigma against us”
Upon explaining the NPS was not merely an extension of the CDC guidelines, I felt certain this petition was falling on deaf ears. The timing of the release of the CDC guidelines was one week prior to the release of the National Pain Strategy. NPS did NOT plan this, but I believe the CDC certainly did. It appears there are those who have not read the NPS and do not understand these two documents are not connected.
I thought this comment might alert the CPATF members about this dissention among chronic pain patients. I feel very strongly that we need the National Pain Strategy and have written many such comments, some of which were on this blog.
Respectfully,
Kim Miller
US Pain Foundation Ambassador Advocate
Well, I signed and shared and shared, begged, pleaded and Tweeted to no avail. I found out a few days before the petition was due to expire, chronic pain patients apparently don’t agree with the ONLY THING WE HAVE GOING FOR US in the world of “PROP runs the Government”.
In one well known, highly active group, a begging and pleading post was taking place when one of the members stated there was a very good reason to not sign the petition for the ONLY THING WE HAVE GOING FOR US. This group member enlightened us to the fact that “many have turned away from the US Pain Foundation after their support and endorsement for the national pain strategy. It was pushed out to chronic pain patients as being a great step forward for continuing treatment of pain. However, it does nothing to ensure access to opioid medications, it specifically states to move away from opioid based treatment of pain, and I’d venture to say actually furthers the stigma against us”
Upon explaining the NPS was not merely an extension of the CDC guidelines, I felt certain this petition was doomed. The timing of the release of the CDC guidelines was one week prior to the release of the National Pain Strategy. NPS did NOT plan this, but I believe the CDC certainly did. It appears that it worked on those who have not read the NPS and do not understand these two documents are not connected.
Where do we turn now? Good question.
Kim Miller
US Pain Foundation Ambassador Advocate
Dr Fudin, I have worked 20 years as a non-physician volunteer in advocacy for chronic pain patients. I am concerned that present State and Federal legislation restricting patient access to opioids is driving doctors out of pain management practice, and patients into unmitigated agony. With this in mind, I have just sent the following letter to 26 US Senators. I would welcome your thoughts on ways forward.
Dear Senator,
I write this letter to implore you to withdraw your sponsorship from efforts to solve a largely non-existent “crisis” in deaths falsely attributed to prescription opioids, captured in your February 9, 2016 letter to HHS Secretary Burwell.
Your advocacy for restriction of prescription opioids and elimination of Hospital survey questions on patient pain outcomes is regrettably based on profound misconceptions and distortions of medical and social reality.
Reality is that there IS no “epidemic” of prescription deaths among chronic pain patients who are legitimately prescribed opioid medications after initial testing and profiling for previous addiction issues, with periodic monitoring for drug tolerance.
Reality is that DIVERSION of prescription drugs to people not under medical management is certainly an issue — but one which cannot be solved by denying relief to patients in agony.
Reality is that the most reliable predictors for death by opioid overdose are unemployment, status as an adolescent, and a history of childhood trauma — NOT prescription of pain relievers for a verified medical condition. While deaths due to street drugs in the opioid class have risen, available statistics do not reliably isolate prescription from non-prescription drug deaths. To lump all opioid deaths together and claim a crisis due to prescription drugs is outright hysteria and fraud.
Reality is that there are 100 Million chronic pain patients in the US (according to the US Institute for Medicine). In at least hundreds of thousands of cases, opioids are the only means people have to maintain even a marginal quality of life in the face of the abject failure of all other therapies. And due to the March 2016 CDC practice guidelines for prescription of opioids in chronic pain, many thousands are being thrown back into agony by the refusal of their physicians to treat them out of fear of DEA prosecution. Many physicians are leaving pain management practice. And the CDC is engaged in a PR campaign to distract the public from the agony and abuse that they have created by arbitrary and unscientific restrictive policies on pain relief.
It is time to stop the war against chronic pain patients. The CDC guidelines must be withdrawn and rewritten to clarify the indispensable role that properly managed opioid medication plays in treatment of otherwise intractable pain.
Deaths due to street drugs are a real social issue — but one that cannot be solved by forcing thousands of people into a downward spiral of pain, agony, and potentially suicide.
I look forward to hearing from you or a staffer by phone. Please do not send me some cockamamie form letter expressing your concern for issues about which you clearly know very little.
I would love to send this letter to my congressman if that is OK with you. Please reply to me so that I can proceed. Thank you very much for your concern.
Yes Cindy. You may use this letter.
Bravo! Someone who gets it and can articulate the issue in a clear concise manner. Although it’ has been over a year since you posted your comments, I hope someone is listening, otherwise chronic pain sufferers are doomed to the agony of which you speak. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your efforts.
Sincerely,
Terry Duvall
Dr.. Lawhern…Thank you very much for calling it like it is and for taking a stand for legitimate pain patients who are having their lives wrecked. I certainly hope someone will listen,because they won’t listen to the patients.
If I did not have pain medication I would definitely consider suicide. The only way I have been able to function somewhat with my life is via pain medication which I use appropriately. Please help all the people who suffer from chronic pain
Deirdre you wrote exactly what I would have.
Without my opioid medication I would certainly commit suicide. I originally wrote “will” but hope that was not foreshadowing courtesy of the current hysteria.
Thank you Deirdre.
I totally agree with you. I moved from N.C.to Florida with all medical records in March 2016. I found a pm doctor and took my meds bottles into his office my visit visit. To make a very long story short. My pm doctor has decided that my pain med I have been on since 2009 that has given me a quality life, I don’t need anymore. He says my disability can’t be seen with the human eye so he can’t write a script for it in the state of Florida. So he gives me a script for a lessor pain med that I take every 8 hours. Well I take the pill and in two hours I’m back in just awful pain until I wish I would die! How can doctors do a patient this way that has proof of their pain? Yet he wants to keep giving me spinal injections every 4 weeks. Now where ia my rights as a chronic pain patient? Suicide rate is steady climbing for pain patients. I know nobody in my area or even a doctor office to call for help. HELP US PLEASE
Roberta, have you contacted Dr Forest Tennant in California? He is a pain specialist who reviews MRIs and treats patients from all over the country.
His website is foresttennant.com.
Best wishes,
Donna Corley
donnacorley43@yahoo.com
It is quite sad that all the efforts to restrict opiods have done nothing but worsen the poor quality of life most chronic pain paitents already suffer from. Addicts will find the drugs they want as long as the want is there however, at the most fundamental root, it is ultimately a choice, their choice. Chronic pain is there reguardless of we want, and as for our choices, they are extremely limited by pointless regulations, difficutly finding/affording adequate care providers due to minimal options available through most insurance companies, among many other things.
I’ve used pain meds and patches for many years, it was excruciating to find a decent pain doctor for awhile and worse finding a pharmacy that had my meds, most times I’d have to go to five or more different pharmacies just to fill all my perscriptions. It was a living hell and felt like I was being punished for something that is nothing more than a necessary evil, required to just barely be functional enough to put on my fake mask with a fake smile to push myself through the relentless pain of each day. Luckily, I was able to get a pain pump last year wich has helped tremendously, especially not having to deal with pharmacies as much. Although my chronic pain is likely forever, there are tons of others that could get a nice chunk of their quality of life back, but by the time they find actual help the condition worsens on top of the potential emotional and psychological stress from feeling so helpless.
Thanks so much Dr. Fudin, Amy Goldstein and Christin Veasley and all others for all you are doing on behalf of pain patients!! The stigma needs to end, and rationality needs to come back to the conversation! Sensible treatment of pain needs to be preserved for the sake of humanity and all that is still humane in us!
Signed , shared!
FYI-Please, everyone make sure you get the confirmation e-mail in your inbox and click that also! Otherwise your signature won’t be counted. Its a two step process.
Signed
Signed, shared.
🙂
I don’t want to die. Prior to my pain being controlled, all I thought about was ending the pain by ending my life. I’ve been weaned to the point of wishing for death again. I don’t want to do that to my family so I continue to fight and suffer. I don’t know if the NPS will help, or help in time to save so many. I’ve signed to help those who come behind me. 26 years of living with Chronic Pain and I’ve lived with it both ways; the Opiophobic way and the way of the mid 1990’s.
I thank all who worked so hard to get the NPS this far. Best wishes to all who struggle with pain and those who treat them. Good luck, NPS!
Have any drug addicts stopped using drugs because of these policies? NO. We know prohibition does not work and the rise in heroin use is directly connected to these policies.
Why is the life of a drug addict more important than the lives of millions of American’s who’s only sin is that they are in pain? We know this is all politics. Our own government is torturing American’s. This isn’t China or N Korea. This is America. Health Care, Obama Care will fail when doctors are afraid to treat their patients in the way they know is needed. Clinics are failing.
Who is going to pay for those who will need care without the pain medications they were doing well? Mothers who can no longer care for their children and bread winners who can no longer work? Where is that money going to come from? Those of us who strive to stay independent and can no longer do so without the pain medications they need?
Your legacy, Obama Care, will be blamed. Please look into this and stop the torture of American’s.
It’s terrible they act like it’s not there problem we hurt and have no kind of normal life bc of the pain
Signed and Shared everywhere!
Thank you Donna!
Signed!
Thank you Dr. Murphy. You are a GEM!
I worry that the suicide rate will go up because people with chronic pain can’t get relief.
Patricia; That is a reasonable worry as it clearly has already happened!
I read of a 14-year old girl who has decided to end her life. Her pain is “7 out of 10” most days from a rare disease. Breaks my heart.
I signed the petition (thank you!).
My pain doctor was dropped by our insurance company which is odd because his practice is hospital based. So I’m a cash patient at a hospital pain clinic. Thankfully he’s been my doctor so long he asked me to stay on. Like that 14 year old girl I also have a rare genetic disease that causes crippling pain.
Me too x 2! I have to see my pain doctor monthly and my family pays him out-of-pocket b/c he is not covered by insurance…$300/mo…how many people (esp w/health issues) can afford that? Not me…just hugely lucky to have my family’s support.
Signed it and forwarded to many who let me know they signed it, and one loving soul even forwarded it to 20 others! I wish I’d known about this earlier…
Dr. Fudin, is there documented evidence the suicide rate of pain patients has increased? I know a journalist who may be interested.
Yes Danya. There is a lot of evidence for increased suicidality!
I already attempted suicide twice over my chronic pain. It’s worse when you’re poor. The state medical HMOs contracted with medicaid, wont pay for most medicines.
Completely agree!