Are we to blame for the heroin epidemic?

This article blames physicians for opiate addiction – Doctors Play A Role In The Opioid Addiction Epidemic, Study Finds. To begin to figure out how many, a team at the Mayo Clinic, led by pain specialist Dr. W. Michael Hooten, analyzed the medical records of 293 patients given a short-term prescription for opiates for the first time in 2009. These patients were being treated for acute pain — from traumas such as sprained ankles or major surgeries — so their doctors did not expect them to become long-term users of painkillers. Yet just over 1 in 4 of these patients went on to use opioid painkillers for longer than 90 days, researchers found. A quarter of this subset engaged in so-called long-term use, defined as receiving at least 120 days’ worth of pills or more than 10 separate prescriptions. In our defense, the pain lobby has put pressure on physicians to relieve pain. We are supposed to have patients grade their pain (1-10). Pain relief became a major focus for patient satisfaction and even quality. Then legislatures figured out that many patients abused opiates. So they thought they could legislate opiate prescribing and ameliorate the problem. The opiate producers knew they had a captive audience, so their pills had significant costs. So now we have expensive opiates and physicians encouraged to decrease prescribing. In comes the Mexican Cartel seeing a business opportunity. Heroin is relatively inexpensive to produce. It comes with a c...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs