Open AccessA Responsible Way to Treat Patients and Pain
Author(s) -
Webster Lynn R.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
pain medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.893
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1526-4637
pISSN - 1526-2375
DOI - 10.1111/pme.12141
Subject(s) - medicine , medical prescription , harm , pain relief , torture , eleventh , pain and suffering , prescription drug misuse , pain control , psychiatry , surgery , psychology , nursing , opioid , law , social psychology , physics , receptor , political science , acoustics , human rights , opioid use disorder
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that deaths due to prescription medications have increased for the eleventh year in a row. In 2010, more than 16,000 deaths were associated with prescription medications ⇓. As tragic as this is for families of a lost one, it would be a cruel consequence if an overreaction to these legitimate concerns makes it more difficult for blameless patients to obtain relief from excruciating pain—or stymies efforts to develop more comprehensive treatments for pain.Pain itself can be medically harmful, interfering in the body's healing process. Anyone who has watched a loved one cry in agony or experienced such torture themselves knows that pain can also be crippling, preventing even routine activities. In some cases, pain becomes so unbearable that patients escape by committing suicide.At the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), our primary goal is to ensure that patients receive safe and proper treatment for pain. To prevent harm from …