Dear Friends in CIP and CI,
Read this and ask is it right, a man's life your life what next?
We spend millions on preventing medical care and who suffers?
Who is at fault?

Peace,

Karen G.
Thanks to CYN from OCPM for this....
Happy EASTER and God bless Dr. Bill!!!!
March 26, 2005
EDITORIAL OBSERVER
Weighing the Difference Between Treating Pain and Dealing Drugs
By TINA ROSENBERG



Federal prosecutors in Virginia want Dr. William Hurwitz, recently convicted
on 50 counts of distributing narcotics, to go to prison for life without
parole when he is sentenced in mid-April.


For the 50 million or so Americans who suffer from chronic pain, the fate of
Dr. Hurwitz should be of some interest. He is a prominent doctor committed
to aggressive treatment of pain. His behavior in some cases was inexcusable.
Patients for whom he freely provided large prescriptions should, at the very
minimum, have been given more close supervision. But malpractice should be
cause for loss of license.


Instead, Dr. Hurwitz has been prosecuted as a drug kingpin because some
patients sold their pills, although prosecutors never claimed he made a penny
from it. That sends a chilling message to doctors who treat people with extreme
pain.


Dr. Hurwitz's case involved prescriptions for opioids like OxyContin or
Vicodin. Abuse of those drugs can be a lethal problem, but the new consensus
among pain doctors is that very high doses are appropriate in some chronic pain
cases. The Drug Enforcement Administration apparently disagrees. The Hurwitz
case shows that increasingly it is the D.E.A., not doctors, that decides what
is appropriate therapy.


Last August the D.E.A. published policies to guide doctors in treating pain.
The document said the amount or duration of pain medicine prescribed was a
physician's decision and would not by itself spark a criminal investigation.
Dr. Hurwitz's lawyers filed to introduce it as evidence. Mysteriously, it
suddenly disappeared from the D.E.A. Web site. The agency then announced it
contained "misstatements." In November, the agency published new guidelines
that
said doctors who prescribe high dosages of opioids for long stretches are
subject to investigation.


Pain is already undertreated in America. Although pain experts estimate that
perhaps one in 10 people who suffer from chronic pain could benefit from
opioids, the vast majority will never find this out. Many doctors won't
prescribe opioids, especially in high doses. Opioids are safe and nonaddictive
if
used correctly, but addictive and deadly if crushed and injected or snorted,
which defeats their time-release mechanism.


Abuse of narcotics like OxyContin is a serious problem and has devastated
many communities. But a huge amount of OxyContin on the street is stolen from
pharmacies - 1.5 million tablets from 2001 to 2003, according to the D.E.A.


Diversion of prescriptions may account for only a small part of the abuse,
but it has brought a sadly disproportionate response from authorities. For
example, Richard Paey, who has used a wheelchair since a car accident in 1985
and also developed multiple sclerosis, is serving a 25-year prison sentence in
Florida for fraudulently obtaining prescriptions for Percocet even though
prosecutors acknowledged he consumed all the pills himself.


Dozens of doctors have been charged with drug trafficking because the D.E.A.
felt they were prescribing too many pills. The Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons warns doctors to think twice before treating pain.
"Discuss the risks with your family," it says.


One California doctor who prescribed opioids, Frank Fisher, was charged with
five counts of murder - including that of a patient who died as a passenger
in a car accident. All charges were dropped. A doctor in Florida, James
Graves, is serving 63 years for four counts of manslaughter involving overdoses
by
people who either abused their prescriptions or mixed their prescribed
medicines with other drugs.


Dr. Hurwitz, a crusader for aggressive pain treatment, had a controversial
practice. More than 90 percent of his patients were genuine, and many say he
was the only doctor who quieted their chronic pain. But his willingness to
treat patients other doctors shunned, including drug addicts, also attracted
scammers. It is legal to prescribe to addicts who are in pain, and many
respected pain doctors believe that in some cases, addiction is caused by
untreated
pain and ends when the pain is controlled.


Dr. Hurwitz, who was disciplined by medical boards several times, testified
that he did dismiss 17 patients he concluded were abusing their prescriptions
and was tapering down the dosage for others. But he also said he felt that
cutting off patients was tantamount to torture, and he did not do so without
strong evidence of bad behavior.


Many of Dr. Hurwitz's colleagues believe that he was far too slow to accept
such evidence and that he should not have been practicing medicine. But while
he was blind to his patients' deceptions, there has never been any evidence
that he was part of their conspiracy. In the prosecutors' post-trial motions,
they argue that the conviction should stand even if Dr. Hurwitz believed he
was prescribing for a legitimate medical purpose.


His prosecution seems inexplicable except as a signal to other doctors that
they can go to prison for life for being duped by their patients. That signal
is being heard - the exodus from aggressive treatment of pain is increasing.
This might marginally reduce the amount of opioids on the street, but in the
process it will sentence hundreds of thousands of people to suffer
needlessly.

--


Karen Hallenbeck~Sikorsky~George BS,RN,UM,QC
http://hometown.aol.com/anewplanforyou
http://hometown.aol.com/anewplanforyou/sb.html



Owner-Moderator
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ADayWithoutPain/
"ADayWithoutPain"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AnAnGeLInPain
"AnAnGeLInPain"

Ya'll are special you truly are, and to be the
catalyst for this group is a miracle for I know
in my heart that God's will created this group(s)
and each of you are very very special to me, always
no matter what I AM SO PROUD to a "part of" what
this family has become..AND WILL BE!!!!
Interqual Certified
Published Psychiatric Researcher
Advocate for those in CIP, HIV, Psychologic Pain
"A Higher Power is necessary to find the ability to withstand self
destruction.."


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