Posts Tagged With: chilling effect

“Given the sweeping nature of the subpoenas here, their chilling effect on First Amendment rights, and the circumstances under which they were obtained – a frustrated prosecutor seeking to silence a dissenting advocate – this Court should quash the subpoenas as an unjustified infringement on Ms. Reynolds’ and PRN’s First Amendment rights,” the ACLU wrote in its pleading.

In pain medicine we have the deeply disturbing situation that what most doctors do (medical community norm) is at odds with, and clearly below, the medical standard of care. Literally, in the treatment of chronic pain, an ethical physician attempting to practice in good faith, according to the clinical literature, is an outlier deviating from how most reputable physicians would practice.

I came across the article linked to: “Third Circuit Gives New Meaning to Term ‘Criminal Justice System’”, by Dr. Bernard Rottschaefer, himself the victim of federal prosecutor Mary Beth Buchanan in what Radley Balko, who wrote “Sex, Drugs and a Federal Prosecution – The Shabby Case Against Dr. Rottschaefer,” calls “Buchanan’s most outrageous case.” Balko writes: “Since Rottschaefer’s conviction, Buchanan’s case has fallen to pieces, as each of the five witnesses who testified to getting illegal prescriptions from Rottschaefer have since been shown to have lied. Buchanan refuses to reopen the case.”

I spoke to Billy’s wife briefly, recently, and am very happy to be able to report that Dr. Hurwitz is no longer in federal prison. He is currently in a half-way house in D.C. and will be transitioning to house arrest as part of his parole and probation requirements… He is in a sort of “titration to house arrest” best I understand it. Meaning, he is starting to get overnight visits with his family – YEA! – and more and more of that till he sort of “stabilizes” on a regimen of maintenance house arrest. (Is house arrest a substitution therapy for …

The article well describes the public health chaos this is the predictable consequence of clinical and public health authorities abandoning their real mission to uphold the medical standard of care for their citizenry, and instead focusing exclusively on the policeman’s agenda which prioritizes ‘catching a few addicts’ over providing adequate pain management for legions of innocent patients.

Excerpt: “As usual, the academics ignore the elephant in the living room. Regarding review articles that wring their hands about the lack of long term evidence of the safety and efficacy of opioid analgesic therapy, they never discuss the impossibility of measuring the efficacy and safety of a therapy that almost no physician is comfortable doing properly. For an excellent analysis of what we might call the “new academic opiophobia,” see the Pain Relief Network’s 2008 “WA State Tort Claim” pages 34 – 37.”

***Pain Relief Network files State Tort Claim vs. WA State***; Laura Cooper, Esq.; [Pain Relief Network][prn]; 2008/07/08. [**Full text PDF**] **Permalink:** http://doctordeluca.com/wordpress/archive/prn-tort-claim-vs-wa/ **See also:** [**PRN Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, and Damages**][d1] – 2008 and, [**WA's Interagency Guideline on Opioid Dosing for Non-Cancer Pain**][d2] – 2007 —- SUMMARY: Nature of Relief Sought: This lawsuit is the result of grossly misinformed prejudices about opioid(1) pain medications held by high-level Washington public health officials. Those prejudices are identified in medical literature …

Academic quality, fully footnoted, article on why untreated or undertreated chronic pain is a medical emergency.

The nonprofit Pain Relief Network (PRN) says the guidelines for prescribing narcotics, written by the Washington state Department of Health and published in March 2007, have influenced pain treatment across the country and have made doctors afraid to give opiate prescriptions. Siobhan Reynolds, PRN president, says the group decided to target WA because the state has been a leader both in pain treatment and in restricting doctors’ prescriptions of pain relief medication. [...]

This Resource Is an article by Dr. Frank Fisher published in the Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin. He recounts his tale of persecution for practicing excellent pain management – a quintessencial example of the War on Doctors and the Pain Crisis in America.

This Resource Is a peer-reviewed analysis of Gonzalez v Oregon. “If the U.S. Attorney General had won this case, DOJ, through the DEA, would have been given the authority to make decisions about the legality of prescriptions in all situations, not just end-of-life care.” After analyzing the Supreme Court decision, Brushwood reviews DEA identification of physicians and pharmacists despite information obtained from a Freedom of Information Act by Joranson documenting DOJ knowledge of massive theft and loss of controlled substances having nothing to do with the doctor – patient relationship. He also reviews the DEA FAQ debacle, the “Myth of …

Article by Dr. DeLuca regarding Jacob Sullum\’s comments about a recent SAMHSA analysis showing low addiction rates for most substances of abuse, and also discusses Hurwitz\’ excellent 2005 analysis of Government data, the peer reviewed

This Resource Is an article discusses the failure of the ‘barriers to pain care’ literature to analyze those barriers from an ethical POV. The author relates this to ‘the collective failure of the profession to recognize the ethical implications of undertreated pain.’

In this full text medical journal article, Joranson, in response to Paulozzi (below), describes a basic public health approach to the ‘drug abuse crisis.’ One wonders whether the combined brain power of the NIH, CDC and FDA would not have accomplished this, except for the imperatives of the drug war. Hurwitz 2005 (see below) is an example of the sort of creative analysis we should expect, but never get, from our academic and federal patriarchs.

Associated Press story about pressure being put on the Pain Relief Network, it’s president, Siobhan Reynolds, because of PRN’s involvement in helping the abandoned pain patients of Dr. Schneider which has interfered with Kansas AG Tanya Treadway drug war prosecution of that physician.

Blogged analysis by DeLuca about a confused opinion article in Wall Street Journal regarding the relationship between law enforcement imperatives on doctors and the resulting routine undermedication of pain patients. [...]

Associated Press article about PRN\’s lawsuit against the State of Kansas, the Kansas medical board, and Attorney General Mukasey and the Department of Justice. The article focuses on the continuing plight of the legitimate pain patients of federally indicted and imprisioned Dr. Schneider. The patients claim no local doctors or hospitals will treat them properly for chronic pain out of fear of becoming targets of drug war zealotry, like Dr. Schneider.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT – DISTRICT OF KANSAS PAIN RELIEF NETWORK, on behalf of patients of Stephen J. Schneider, D.O., Plaintiff,
[Uzo L. Ohaebosim, Attorney for Plaintiff; 510 N. Main; Wichita, KS 67214; 316-261-5400]
vs.
THE STATE OF KANSAS, THE KANSAS STATE BOARD OF HEALING ARTS, MICHAEL MUKASEY, in his official capacity as United States Attorney General; ERIC F. MELGREN, in his official capacity as the United States Attorney for the District of Kansas, and THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Defendants.

VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER PURSUANT TO FED.R. CIV.P. 65(b)…

Patients of a physician who is charged with running a “pill mill” linked to 56 overdose deaths plan to sue the government, claiming it has put patients in mortal danger and created a public health disaster by prosecuting the doctor. The lawsuit, which names Attorney General Michael Mukasey, U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren, the state of Kansas and the Kansas Board of Healing Arts as defendants, was to be filed Tuesday by the New Mexico-based Pain Relief Network on behalf of the patients of Dr. Stephen Schneider.

Article from Yakima Herald Journal (Washington state) about Dr. Rosa Martinez who was found not guilty of drug charges in Federal prosecution in December 2007; Dr. Martinez continues to fight for her professional life, and for her patients.