Posts Tagged With: govt misconduct

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.

Talk given by Frank Fisher, M.D.; Drug Cops and Docs, Cato Institute Conference; 2005-09-09. Introduction — The undertreatment of chronic pain is an ongoing public health disaster. The means to reverse this disaster is a class of medications known as opioid analgesics. The pain crisis exists for just one reason. Physicians don’t prescribe enough of these medications. I’m going to explain why we don’t. — The war on drugs has become a war on legal drugs. This exposes physicians to the risk of unwarranted prosecution. In response to this threat, the academic pain establishment has developed a set of standards …

This is starting to get silly. Every time ANY motion comes before a judge regarding ANY aspect of the Dr. Schneider affair, Prosecutor Tanya Treadway raises her hand to say, “Oh, oh, Judge! Could you please also stop political activist Siobhan Reynolds from expressing herself?”

Every time I think this action by Siobhan Reynolds on behalf of the abandoned pain patients of Dr. Stephen Schneider can’t get any worse, on the human-suffering scale, the Fed. lashes out again, digging themselves in deeper, making themselves look dopey; not to mention the State, as Congressional Clowns pander and Medical Board members dither… The band played on. [...]

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.

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)…

Drug War Chronicle article about the persecution of Dr. Schneider, abuse of federal power, and what the Pain Relief Network is doing about it.

Associated Press article about legal actions in State Court by the patients of the federally indicted Dr. Schneider, in effort to prevent forced closing of the clinic and consequent abandonment of the pain patients cared for there.

Purdue Pharma was coerced, under threat of destruction by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), into pleading guilty to charges that their drug was “more addictive” than they had claimed, the government alleging that the company failed to inform both doctors and the public of this information when it came available. The problem for Americans in pain is that this private deal creates, if you will, a “fact” on the public record that is not factual, a “fact” that severely prejudices the interests of patients in pain. [...]

Letter from attorney John Flannery to the pain advocacy community reflecting on the case of Richard Paey, now fully pardoned, and the role played by Siobhan Reynolds and the Pain Relief Network in producing this major victory in the Pain Crisis.

Siobhan Reynolds, president of the Pain Relief Network, Testimony before the Senate committee on the Judiciary, regarding the Purdue Oxycontin settlement. Link to full text PDF. Excerpt: “Many people in severe pain, especially those with high dose requirements, have been maimed or killed as a result of this department’s campaign against pain management. But we haven’t, as of yet, seen Senate Judiciary Committee hearings about that ongoing atrocity.” [...]

Pain Relief Network Press Release about House of Representatives Hearings on DEA Oversight scheduled for July 12, 2007. Full text: 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 Washington, 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 have been invited to testify. This is a HUGE opportunity for the Pain Relief Network (PRN) to present its case to a wide and influential audience. — Our goal …

Full text of blog post about arrest of Gore’s son on drug charges: Al Gore’s son was arrested for possession of prescription drugs. The timing was uncanny. Just as it was appearing Gore might announce his candidacy, we hear the news that his boy has a drug problem. Next come the predictable barrage of articles about how his arrest highlights the problem with prescription drugs. Does anyone wonder why members of Congress have been reluctant to take up the insanity of this drug war….it is simply too personally dangerous to do so. — This is Rush Limbaugh redux. I can’t …

Blog post about the Prescription Drug Diversion Prosecutions – Quick Reference Card 2002 for which a link to full text PDF is provided. Tina Rosenberg, in her recent cover story for the New York Times Magazine, makes direct reference to the Cheat Sheet in the following paragraphs excerpted from that article. It really is fascinating in a stomach-turning sort of way. Enjoy!

Excerpt: “You captured the absurdity of these trials beautifully. I remember when I watched my first one of these, the “trial” of Drs. Bordeaux, Allere, Jackson et al of the Comprehensive Care clinic in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. There, the prosecution could make no allegations of high pill counts or “addicted” babies, so instead, they added little dramatic touches into the statements the doctors supposedly gave to the DEA agents. These touches gave the scene, as portrayed by prosecutors, what theater artists call the “feel of reality”… The stunning thing was, the topic at hand was pain care, so the …

First of a series of blog posts regarding the trial of pain doctor William Mangino. Excerpt: “The prosecution asked only one question on cross examination of defense expert Dr. Tennant. The prosecution brought forth no further expert testimony. The defense felt Tennant’s testimony was sufficiently strong and his credibility and professional stature so huge relative to the prosecution expert, and that the prosecution had failed to make it’s case. And so on 2007-07-03, the defense choose not to call it’s second defense expert (myself) and choose not to put Dr. Mangino on the stand, and rested.”

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 …