Archive for: June 2007

Innuendo and an ‘investigation’ is all it takes to ruin a doc and cause the abandonment of his patients… Dr. Naramore is obviously no media neophyte, and he gets several important points across very effectively in the article: “The undertreatment of pain is a serious problem in America,” he said. “Physicians are afraid of persecution and prosecution for adequately treating pain. No American should suffer pain.”

The House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime, will be holding hearings on DEA oversight Thursday, July 12, 2007. As a result of my visit to DC in early June, the recent New York Times Magazine Cover article, and the assistance of many good friends on and around Capitol Hill, I (Siobhan Reynolds, President, Pain Relief Network) have been invited to represent the pain issue. The House staffer we are working with is developing the roster and we are supplying her some excellent suggestions for patients, doctors, and lawyers. There will be a couple of other issues represented but it seems …

John Tierney (”A Taste of His Own Medicine,” column, May 6) hits the nail on the head when he suggests that drug war prosecutions, like those of Rush Limbaugh or Richard Paey, are more for show than for actual enforcement purposes. Unfortunately, these prosecutions also reinforce a medical culture that routinely hardens itself against the anguished pleas of people in serious pain. — An Internet study presented at the annual meeting of the American Pain Society last week in San Antonio, Tex., revealed that while 88 percent of those who visit emergency rooms do so because of out-of-control pain, only …

Blog post about Pennsylvania Attorney Tom Corbett’s attacks on substance misusing physicians are drug criminals. What Pennsylvanians need to understand is that AG Tom Corbett is mis-informing them and playing them for fools in a venal and socially destructive game, that at once creates, and then plays off of, Americans’ trumped-up fear of a ‘prescription drug crisis’ for which there is very little scientific evidence. What Pennsylvanians need to understand is that it is bizarre and unnecessary and a complete waste of taxpayer money for their Attorney General to attack what are, at worst, alleged substance misuing physicians who pose …

Blog post about the indictment of Dr. Jennifer Zampogna, and the initial media smear mounted by Attorney General Tom Corbett of Erie county, PA. One would have thought we\’d seen how low Attorney General Tom Corbett could go, in the Dr. Paul Heberle case, but apparently not. This Zampogna case is embarrassing – a pathetic joke. Here is the MAIN charge, the best they got… After that, the charges get too silly to bother with here. He\’s kidding, right? The good people of PA are going to pony up for a hideously expensive criminal investigation and trial to convict a …

Blog item with embedded video, text of article Abstract, and link to full-text PDF about the EPIC survey which is the largest ever study of its kind to investigate the prevalence, impact and treatment of pain in cancer… The EPIC survey demonstrates that pain in patients with cancer is widespread, frequent and long-lasting, and is not always adequately managed.

Prohibita-chloride Really Works. — And now we pause for a moment of enjoyment and laughter. — Thank you to Mr. James Stack for making me aware of Incarcerex, and for making this informative video so easily available to us all, through his website: http://www.jamesstacks.com/ Enjoy!

Letters from medical students in response to Tina Rosenberg’s NY Times Magazine cover “When is a Doctor a Dealer” published in June, 2007. “… [Ms. Rosenberg] is absolutely right – my friends and I in medical school find the pain pathways and significance of pain in illness and treatment terribly interesting, but I can almost guarantee that none of us will ever consider pain management as a specialty for fear of unfair litigation and the government taking away our licenses (and dreams).”

War on Doctors/Pain Crisis blog post about the Amicus Curia brief in support of Dr. McIver’s Writ of Certiori to the Supreme Court. Link to full text PDF of the brief.

Press release from the Pain Relief Network Re: moral victory in St. Thomas in the case of Dr. Maynard, who was sentenced to 7 months which was less than sentencing guidelines.