Outrageous Conflict of Interest in the Debate Over Opioids
Dysfunction, Lobbying, and Conflict of Interest in the Debate Over Opioids
Another health care provider noted the fear that many pain clinics have of being investigated and shut down. In Ohio, a local pain clinic had been overprescribing. It was raided by police and closed. Its patients have not been welcomed to other pain clinics for fear that triggers an investigation against them. One man with terminal throat cancer has been unable to find any clinics to provide pain relief because he had been a customer at the overprescribing clinic…
After my pain doctor of 8 years passed away, the only doctor I could find who would agree to see me was in another state. I found out that my doctor was a little infamous within the pain doctor community and the majority of his patients could not find another doctor within the State of Texas. The doctor’s office shut down immediately after his death, and refused to provide copies of our medical files, so that was part of the problem, too. What a freaking nightmare…
“I’m sure everyone on the committee is an expert, but you need to have a variety of opinions, otherwise why even bother having the meeting in the first place,” said Pitts, whose responsibilities at the FDA included overseeing the formation of FDA’s advisory committees. Referring to PROP’s role in creating the guidelines, Pitts said, “When you basically take one group that is considered the opioid lunatic fringe and allow them to create the basis of your policy almost verbatim is inexcusable. It’s bad policy. It’s bad science. It’s poorly serving the public health.”
The “opioid lunatic fringe,” that’s hilarious. Dr. Pitts needs to trademark that phrase. (Now trending on Twitter, #OLF!) 🙂
Dr. Roger Chou of Oregon Health and Sciences University served both as one of the contributing authors and as a member of the Core Expert Group… Chou’s decision to alter course is unclear. He did not respond to a request for an interview…
Isn’t it fun to so easily go back to the past and find out what OLF! has been doing? Dr. Chou, an “interventional pain physician,” is a busy bee:
F*ck, here we go again…
Interventional Pain Physicians
The Effectiveness and Risks of Long-Term Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain:
My comment:
What a great article! While I don’t agree with 100% of it, the article clearly details both sides, which is certainly a difficult thing to find in the small amount of media reporting on the opioid war. The only thing I would add is that there should also be a place at the table for pain patients. And not anyone affiliated with so-called patient groups, as I’ve found that many of them also have conflicts of interest.
The suicide epidemic is a lot worse than the opioid “epidemic,” even though the CDC spends very little time on the prevention of suicides. The increase in suicides in the U.S. is just one of the results of the war against the pain community, but it will continue to get worse because of anti-drug and hypocritical groups like PFROP (bupe for drug addicts, but no opioids to treat pain, right Mr. Kolodny?).
While the increase in overdoses is mainly affecting those who suffer from addiction, one of the reasons for that is that there probably won’t be many chronic pain patients with the courage to commit suicide. We suffer in silence because we’ve become accustomed to it. For some it’s apathy, and for many, it’s just plain fear. When your survival depends on drugs that are now part of the drug war, what does your future look like?
All Things Chronic 