Objections to Senior Citizens Receiving Opioids According to a recent report by the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, opioids are commonly prescribed for senior citizens in pain. Almost 12 million Medicare beneficiaries received at least one prescription for an opioid painkiller last year. The report goes on…
Read MoreSuicide Rates Have Reached a 30-year High Suicide rates have reached a 30-year high, according to the New York Times. “This is part of the larger emerging pattern of evidence of the links between poverty, hopelessness and health,” according to Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard University. It’s true that poverty,…
Read MoreWhat Is a Ghost Doctor? It is not uncommon for politicians, celebrities, and other ordinary people to hire a talented writer — who is called a “ghostwriter” — to compose a story or book. Ghostwriters are supposed to write in the author’s words, voice, and style, and they do not take credit for their authorship.…
Read MoreTreating Pain — The Stats In a recent Consumer Reports article on pain, “Prince’s Death and the Addiction Risk of Opioids,” Teresa Carr writes, “In fact, as many as one out of four taking a prescribed opioid for several months or longer becomes addicted, according to the CDC.” Carr doesn’t provide a reference, so I’m…
Read MoreWhen a publication of Harvard Business Review’s caliber prints something, it stands as fact unless an authoritative voice corrects it. Therefore, I feel obligated to comment on Christopher Bowe’s recent HBR article, “Fixing Pharma’s Incentives Problem in the Wake of the U.S. Opioid Crisis.” I’m disappointed in (although hardly surprised by) the misleading content of…
Read MoreWhen I saw NPR’s headline, Investors See Big Opportunities In Opioid Addiction Treatment, I wasn’t sure whether I should feel angry or simply disbelieving. Are investors really earning money on the backs of people suffering from addiction? So many of us see addiction as a thief who steals our ability to think and function —…
Read MoreMedia Reporting of Opioids Have you heard the news about hyperalgesia? “This is the idea that opioid medication, instead of calming pain, might actually make pain worse,” says Stephen Martin, MD, EdM, an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School who wrote a guest post for HealthNewsReview.…
Read MoreState Senator Gene Yaw means well when he suggests teaching all doctors the pros and cons of opioids. In theory, I appreciate what he’s saying and am pleased to see his support for broader education about opioids and pain management. Medical Students Receive One Hour of Pain Management Education — Veterinarians Receive More! I often…
Read MoreYou’ve probably heard by now that a medical examiner has determined Prince, the musical superstar, died of a fentanyl overdose. While other opioids get more attention, fentanyl is the stealth bomb for abusers. Fact About Fentanyl Fentanyl is 100 times more dangerous than morphine. The dose at which fentanyl produces the pain relief that users…
Read MoreThe New CDC Opioid Guidelines The Centers for Disease Control meant well when it issued the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain in March of 2016. On its website, the CDC asserts that it created the guideline on “the basis of a systematic review of the scientific evidence while considering benefits and harms,…
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