Painkiller-abuse proposal divides healthcare community, even in same hospitals | cleveland.com

Doctors at top health centers including the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals want the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to toughen rules for prescribing powerful painkillers like OxyContin and similar opioids, saying this could curb addiction and drug abuse.Yet there is pushback -- from, among others, medical professionals at some of the same hospitals, including the Cleveland Clinic, public records and interviews show.These doctors and clinicians say they, too, want to halt addiction and deaths from the over-consumption and abuse of opioid painkillers, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control calls an epidemic. The CDC lists Ohio as among the states with the highest rate of overdose deaths from OxyContin and similar drugs that use synthetic or natural versions of the opium poppy to suppress pain -- and can create a sense of euphoria and addiction in some people. Included in this drug class is not only OxyContin but also Vicodin, Percocet, methadone and codeine, the CDC says.But some medical specialists worry that more harm than good could come if patients with long-term pain from injuries or medical conditions cannot get relief, especially if opioids are only recommended for patients in severe rather than moderate pain -- a personal and subjective call, some say. Doctors might be able to prescribe "off-label" uses for select patients, depending on what the FDA decides, but this would restrict how drug companies market the painkillers and could make insur...
Source: Psychology of Pain - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs