Pain Pill Limit Aims To Curb Abuse At City ERs, Bloomberg Says

[Purveyor]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Rhiannon12866 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: NY1 News

The city is making it tougher to get painkillers from some emergency rooms.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Thursday that under new city policy emergency rooms at the city's 11 public hospitals will only be able to hand out prescriptions for three days worth of painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin.

The mayor says it's time to crack down on prescription drug abuse.

"We talk about other problems, we talk about narcotics but this is one of the things that is growing much more rapidly. Health surveys show more than a quarter million New Yorkers over the age of 12 report either misusing the opioid painkillers prescribed to them or abusing painkillers that haven't been prescribed to them," Bloomberg said.

Doctors outside the emergency room still have the discretion to give longer term painkiller prescriptions.


Read more: http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/health/175301/pain-pill-limit-aims-to-curb-abuse-at-city-ers--bloomberg-saysk to source

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. already posted - duplicate of

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014364200 .

[freedom fighter jh]

3. The solution to one problem can be the cause of another.

Three days' worth of painkillers may not do the job.

I had unbearable back pain over a year ago. I went to the ER. It was a Friday. They fixed me up with some painkiller and the doctor gave me a prescription for enough pills to last about a day and a half. I pressed the doctor to explain how I was going to manage once the pills ran out but he just kind of didn't say anything. Fortunately I knew a doctor who was able to get me an appointment on Monday morning with a doctor who gave me a script for enough pills to buy me some time to find a way to get better. (He said I needed surgery and he would operate on me the following Tuesday. A little Web surfing made it clear just how risky this would be, and I had the very good fortune to get a suggestion from a friend for an exercise that relieved the pain.)

I was just lucky. I could not have endured another week or so of that pain.

Three days may not be enough time for an ER patient to see a doctor and either get a longer-term prescription or solve the problem that is causing the pain.

[Akoto]

4. This is how discrimination against people like me grows.

I have a chronic pain condition. It's incurable, and it's of the sort that has its highs and its lows. Sometimes, it outright flares and goes out of control. That's a point where even my best pain management medication isn't sufficient.

I've been to the ER twice in my life, once for a flare. Why only once? Well, because I saw the change in demeanor the very moment they realized I was a pain patient. I had gone because the pain was so bad that time, it concerned me that something else might be going on. Doubt and suspicion throughout. That's even though I had my meds with me, so they could see exactly what I was taking and even count the damn pills if they thought me an abuser. I get my meds from a university, not some corner Pills-R-Us!

When I had to go again a few weeks later, it was because I had tried a new medication and developed urinary retention after the first pill. Needed a catheter. I have chronic pelvic pain, so you can imagine how excruciating that was. When they finally took the damn thing out, I asked the doctor if I could just stay until the pain settled a little. I didn't feel safe getting up. He told me, without understanding my condition, that I need to detox. I was astonished, and I've never seen my dad so furious.

Laws like these create more paranoia and make doctors afraid to adequately treat pain, which can have negative consequences in the long term (we tend to only think of addiction in that sense). Sometimes, when it's chronic, the timing is really bad and you have nowhere else to turn.

[dotymed]

5. Does anyone remember about 7-8 years ago

when we continually informed patients about their "right" to be pain-free? It was accompanied by the smiley face and 1-10 rating of your pain? This is ridiculous. Now people (especially w/out insurance), are allowed to be pain-free or have tolerable pain for 3 days in N.Y.? I foresee an increase in N.Y. ER visits... and a lot of needless suffering.
Since I moved to a red state, I have had to battle for my monthly pain meds. Hell, they don't get me "high" but they do make the pain tolerable.
Dr.'s are now being bullied by the DEA to not write pain prescriptions unless they are pain management (pill mill) Dr.'s.
This (not new) "epidemic" has become a cash cow. Wealthy people hire salaried (or not) Dr.'s (many with shaky credentials) and build "pain clinics." They charge huge fee's and prefer cash, to prescribe you pain meds. They drug test you monthly and if you have smoked a joint, forget it, suffer or come in twice a month to be tested (more money). I know people that do this in order to have their pain treated if they have smoked pot.
I know that people abuse prescription pain meds. It is not a new phenomenon. It has become big business since they are implementing their "solution."
Suffer, pay or be treated like a criminal. Amerika..

[samsingh]

6. this is cruel and ridiculous

bloomberg is useless

[Unknown Beatle]

7. People like Bloomberg

are not the solution, they're the problem. Who the hell is he to make medical based decisions? It's ridiculous that he implemented a soft drink law in NYC, nothing over 16 ounces can be served. I guess he's a legend in his own mind.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Locking, sorry, this is a duplicate. Please continue discussion and post updates here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014364200