pain sufferers

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone!

I want to share something with you that's going on at the Yahoo

chronic pain site. If you're interested in doing something about the

way chronic pain sufferes are treated, please, read this, & let me

know if you want to get involved. I do NOT want to bug you, I just

need to know if you want to be part of getting our voices heard.

Hugs,

Deanna Tubb

New Mexico PAI Rep

Subject: The AMA Position on Pain Management

Hi, all,

This is excellent news for all of us. In this position statement,

the AMA has clearly stated what needs to be addressed before

finalizing Pain Relief Acts for each state. Now, as long as

legislators don't mangle things before the bills are passed, things

*should* get better. THESE are the things we need to support!!! We

need to be aware of what's in our own states' medical guidelines,

policies, regulations, and Pain Acts, in order to address the issues

knowledgeably. The AMA also supports the " Model Guidelines, " which

you can read at:

http://www.medsch.wisc.edu/painpolicy/domestic/model.htm

Also, in our " Links " section, there's a folder called " Views on

Opioid Treatment " that includes information from MANY medical

organizations that will give you more " ammunition " to enable you to

discuss these important issues with credibility.

Your friend,

Dorothy - NM

FIPSO Co-Owner

STAT - Standing Together Against Adequate Treatment

dross6582@m...

About the AMA Position on Pain Management Using Opioid Analgesics

Unbalanced and misleading media coverage on the abuse of opioid

analgesics not only perpetuates misconceptions about pain management;

it compromises the access to adequate pain relief sought by over 50

million Americans living with pain.

In the past several years, there has been growing recognition on the

part of health care providers, government regulators, and the public

that the undertreatment of pain is a major societal problem.

Pain of all types is undertreated in our society. The pediatric and

geriatric populations are especially at risk for undertreatment.

Physicians' fears of using opioid therapy, and the fears of other

health professionals, contribute to the barriers to effective pain

management.

In 2001, in an unprecedented collaboration, the US Drug Enforcement

Administration (DEA) joined 21 Health Groups, including the American

Medical Association, calling for balanced policy governing

prescription pain medications. " Both health care professionals and

law enforcement and regulatory personnel, share a responsibility for

ensuring that prescription pain medications are available to the

patients who need them, and for preventing these drugs from becoming

a source of harm or abuse, " the joint statement said.

The AMA supports the position that (1) physicians who appropriately

prescribe and/or administer controlled substances to relieve

intractable pain should not be subject to the burdens of excessive

regulatory scrutiny, inappropriate disciplinary action, or criminal

prosecution. It is the policy of the AMA that state medical societies

and boards of medicine develop or adopt mutually acceptable

guidelines protecting physicians who appropriately prescribe and/or

administer controlled substances to relieve intractable pain before

seeking the implementation of legislation to provide that protection;

(2) education of medical students and physicians to recognize

addictive disorders in patients, minimize diversion of opioid

preparations, and appropriately treat or refer patients with such

disorders; and (3) the prevention and treatment of pain disorders

through aggressive and appropriate means, including the continued

education of physicians in the use of opioid preparations.

Additionally, the AMA supports the Federation of State Medical Boards

Model Guidelines for the Use of Controlled Substances for the

Treatment of Pain, which encourages adequate pain management and

addresses physician concerns about disciplinary actions by medical

boards, as well as the policies and guidelines of the American Pain

Society, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the American

Geriatric Society, and the American Society for Addiction Medicine,

which support the appropriate use of opioid analgesics for pain

management.

At its annual policymaking meeting this summer, the AMA House of

Delegates adopted policy recommendations stating their opposition to

the harassment of physicians by DEA agents in response to the

appropriate prescribing of controlled substances for pain management

and to the inappropriate use of 21 Code of Federal Regulations

Section 1306.04 or any other rationale that would involve placement

of licensure restrictions on physicians who use opioid analgesics and

other pain-reducing medications appropriately to treat patients with

pain. The AMA requests that state medical and specialty societies

submit examples of physicians who allegedly have been harassed by

DEA agents for appropriate prescribing of controlled substances for

pain management to the AMA's Office of General Counsel.

The AMA is committed to the goal of protecting the legitimate use of

prescription drugs for patients in pain. And education is the best

medicine.

To this end, the AMA has created a national Pain Management CME

program for physicians to address many of these issues. The review

board for this activity consists of expert reviewers from 16 medical

specialty societies and other professional health care

organizations. The CME program was funded through an unrestricted

educational grant from Purdue Pharma, L.P.

In addition, the American Academy of Pain Medicine recently announced

a new initiative, named TOP MED (Topics in Medicine), a

comprehensive " virtual textbook " on treating patients of all ages

suffering from different types of pain. The web-based, self-directed

textbook will be made available free of charge to medical students

across the country in the fall of 2004.

Preventing drug abuse remains an important societal goal; it should

not hinder patients ability to receive the care they need and deserve

ordiscourage physicians from prescribing pain medications when

medically appropriate.