No Good Deed...

The number of overdose deaths from narcotic prescription drugs has more than tripled over the past decade.   This is just one more example of the idiots getting involved in our healthcare system.  It started with some ivory tower researchers crying out that doctors don't treat pain adequately enough.  Then they demanded that a pain scale be placed everywhere so that we NEVER forget to ask about pain (see the morons at the Joint Commission).  And now we get these types of statistics from people dying; not to mention the addiction numbers. In the article I reference the one expert states:

• "Doctors should limit prescriptions — giving only a three-day supply for acute pain, for example — and look for alternative treatments".
• "For chronic pain, narcotics should be the last resort."

Unbelievable.  That is so far removed from what they are telling us at the beginning of the decade that it is actually laughable.  In fact, doctors were liable if patient's pain was not adequately treated to their liking.  Check out this article from 2001 in the American Medical News:

Doctor guilty of elder abuse for undertreating pain: A California court ruling could spur physicians to become more knowledgeable about the best way to treat their patients' pain.


Want more? Here is what I found from the year 2000:


Jim Guest, Executive Director of the American Pain Foundation, claims “Over 50 million Americans live with chronic pain. The crime is that treatments and therapies to manage most pain are available, yet most pain goes untreated, under treated, or improperly treated.”

This is just another example of "no good deed goes unpunished".  Remember this debacle as we see each new fad or proclamation come down from the ivory towers, the supposed experts or our dear government.