The resolution reflects the frustration of physicians who have found that the CDC's advice, as interpreted by legislators, regulators, insurers, pharmacists, and law enforcement agencies, is interfering with treatment of patients suffering from severe pain.
The result has been involuntary dose reductions for patients across the country, including people with severe chronic pain who had been functioning well on opioids for years and are now suffering, bedridden, and in some cases suicidal.
In a speech last week, Pain News Network reports, AMA President Barbara McAneny described her own experience with the damage caused by anti-opioid zeal.
When a patient with metastatic prostate cancer was suffering from bone pain that was not adequately relieved by his medication, "I increased the dosage of his opioids from two per day to three, and of course he ran out early," McAneny said.
"The pharmacist suspected my patient was a drug seeker and did not alert me that his prescription was denied," McAneny said.
"My patient, a very proud man, felt shamed and didn't know what to do. So he went home to be as tough as he felt he could be. That worked for about three days, and then he tried to kill himself."
McAneny acknowledged concerns about overprescription and diversion of opioids but suggested the pendulum is "Swinging back so far that patients are being harmed." While "I share the nation's concern that more than 100 people a day die of an overdose," she said, "My patient nearly died of an under-dose."
http://reason.com/blog/2018/11/19/ama-decries-the-impact-of-the-cdcs-opioi
The result has been involuntary dose reductions for patients across the country, including people with severe chronic pain who had been functioning well on opioids for years and are now suffering, bedridden, and in some cases suicidal.
In a speech last week, Pain News Network reports, AMA President Barbara McAneny described her own experience with the damage caused by anti-opioid zeal.
When a patient with metastatic prostate cancer was suffering from bone pain that was not adequately relieved by his medication, "I increased the dosage of his opioids from two per day to three, and of course he ran out early," McAneny said.
"The pharmacist suspected my patient was a drug seeker and did not alert me that his prescription was denied," McAneny said.
"My patient, a very proud man, felt shamed and didn't know what to do. So he went home to be as tough as he felt he could be. That worked for about three days, and then he tried to kill himself."
McAneny acknowledged concerns about overprescription and diversion of opioids but suggested the pendulum is "Swinging back so far that patients are being harmed." While "I share the nation's concern that more than 100 people a day die of an overdose," she said, "My patient nearly died of an under-dose."
http://reason.com/blog/2018/11/19/ama-decries-the-impact-of-the-cdcs-opioi
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