Pain Killer

Pain Killer (full text) Frank Fisher, M.D., Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin, 2006

NOTE!
The following was originally posted back in 2006. It is important to know that since then Dr. Fisher is back in practice, doing what he loves, providing very needed medical services to an under-served and mostly impoverished population.

So read the following to understand what can happen to a good doc who tried to practice standard of care pain management. THEN read this: Dr. Fisher Back in Practice, and know that in this case the story has a happy ending, which is incredibly rare in war on doctors cases.

Excerpt:
“In 1995, the Medical Board of California declared that the undertreatment of chronic pain was more problematic than its overtreatment [and set forth] guidelines for treating chronic pain with controlled substances. I believed the reign of terror directed at palliative-care physicians had finally ended.

“I was mistaken. Within weeks of incorporating the guidelines into my practice, I learned I had become the target of a criminal investigation.”

Comment (DeLuca):
The persecution of Dr. Fisher is a classic example of the ‘reign of terror’ being waged against pain management physicians. The above article inspired me to compile a collection of articles by, about, and related to Dr. Frank Fisher and the issues his trials raise:

The Trials of Dr. Frank Fisher: the Cost of Exoneration - WAR ON PAIN SUFFERERS Special Collection #7; 2006-06-23.

See also:
No Convictions - But His Practice is in Ruins - Eric Snider, Weekly Planet, 2004-06-21.

War on Pain Sufferers Special Collections - Table of Contents