Re: addition to pain sufferes

[Guest guest]

Hello again!

I think these responses are important also.

Deanna Tubb

New Mexico PAI Rep

Dear Rep. Holland:

I was very disheartened to read HR.325 of which you are one of the

sponsors. Rep. Holland, this bill as written is not a good bill. It

seems that it was almost crafted by the MS. Board of Medical

Licensure or they had a lot of input into it. The people who

actually suffer chronic pain need to be heard from by the House and

in particular the Public Health Committee. I offer you myself at

anytime to testify how extrememly hard it is to obtain meds for

chronic pain in Mississippi and to tell all that I have been thru to

obtain such. It was almost a decade hunt and cost me thousands of

dollars that I didn't have simply because Dr.'s are so afraid of this

medical board and I am sorry to say but this bill just doesn't make

it easier for Dr.'s to prescribe meds to us without fear of the

Board. Please have mercy on us and keep the Medical Board away from

this bill.

The Chairman of the American Cancer Society for cancer and non-cancer

chronic pain wrote the bill that was proposed to Rep. Holland and

yourself. I do not understand why it was totally re-written without

consulting the constituents who had proposed that this bill be used

as the Chronic Pain Relief bill in Mississippi. Let me give you some

samples of what is wrong with the bill as written.

1. Section 2, (g) should read chronic pain and not intractable

pain. Intractable pain is not used anymore unless it is used as

intractable chronic pain.

2. Section (i) This part of the bill should be totally stricken and

replaced with language to reflect the following.

a. Accepted guidelines is one of the terms that has gotten us

to this point in time.

When any entity sits down and decides that x milligrams of substance

x can be given every x hours for condition x it is a totally

incorrect way of dealing with the problem of treating chronic pain.

The reason is that every individual is different and one person may

require x milligrams of substance x every x hours when another person

may require a larger dosage of substance x every x hours for the

exact same condition. When this happens Board Examiners have a

heyday in that they can bring charges against a Dr. for giving 1

milligram or 5 milligrams of substance x every x hours to a person

who is requiring more of substance x than the guidelines suggest.

This also opens the way for the DEA to become involved which is not

good for us.

Of the utmost importance is that Dr.'s be given leeway treating their

patients.

Instead of guidelines for pain management developed by a different

entities described in Secton 2, (i), there should be a panel of pain

management experts to review any cases that the Medical Board may

have questions and concerns about. This again is one of the major

problems. The MS. Board of Medical Licensure is comprised of Dr.'s

who do not reflect the pain management aspect of medicine. There may

be one specialist or one with substantial relevant experience in the

area of pain management on the Board. Section 2, (i), is giving the

Board the authority to continue to do what it has always done and

that is to keep Dr.'s in this state afraid to help those who suffer

chronic pain because of the autocratic manner in which they operate.

3. Section 3, (2) This section of the bill is basically saying the

same thing as the Board is currently doing. Again, I repeat that

what is needed is a Review Board of those who treat chronic pain to

decide cases of which the Board may have concerns.

I implore you to please take this letter for what it is. It is

simply a plea for you to amend HR 325, retract HR 325 or re-write HR

325 to reflect the sample pain bill provided by the Chairman of the

American Cancer Society for cancer and non-cancer chronic pain with

the link to this bill being below.

Please have mercy on those of us who suffer and do the right thing.

We have suffered more than human beings need or should suffer in this

day and age.

Please feel free to contact me anytime. I would consider it an honor

and privilege to testify before the Public Health Committee at any

time about this subject of which I am, unfortunately, very familiar.

http://www.paincoalition.us/act.htm