The Painful Truth: Lending a Voice to Pain

At the beginning of my medical career, I met a patient who would change the trajectory of my life. He was a World War I veteran who suffered from arthritis, causing an excruciating grinding noise whenever he bent his limbs. Despite having risked his life for his country, his pain was so excruciating that whenever…

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Patients Suffered First 100 Days After Hydrocodone Rescheduling

Ignoring the Law of Unintended Consequences—which dictates that undesired outcomes result from a well-meant action—appears to be human nature. In trying to do good, people create more problems, in part because they fail to consider all the moving parts in a complex world. Simple human stupidity is another reason, but much can be explained by…

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Interview with Dr. Sean Mackey – National Pain Strategy

Dr. Lynn Webster: Hello, this is Dr. Lynn Webster, thank you for listening to this question and answer series on lynnwebstermd.com. Today I am proud to have Dr. Sean Mackey with me.  Dr. Mackey is the immediate past president of American Academy of Pain Medicine and Professor of Anesthesiology at Stanford University. Thank you for…

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Solving the Pain Dilemma

Chronic pain affects 1 in 3 Americans and exerts more than a $600-billion drain on the economy annually. It is the largest invisible epidemic we face. Having treated thousands of patients with chronic pain – often when they were at their most vulnerable – I want to improve the future for pain suffers. As one…

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A Note to Hillary Clinton: Please be Responsible with Opioids

While Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton only recently announced her bid for office in 2016, she has already declared a few important issues on her presidential agenda, including the ever-important opioid crisis in the United States. Many are chiming in to offer their best solutions to curbing the opioid abuse epidemic; sadly, many of the proposed…

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