Pubdate: Sun, 27 Mar 2016
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2016 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Leslie Schofferman
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n162/a06.html

OPIOID USE AND ABUSE

Patients and Doctors Discuss the Management of Drugs That Can Be 
Helpful or Harmful.

To the Editor: The proper treatment of pain disorders by physicians 
should not be directed by the fear of lawsuits or pressure by 
insurance payers but rather by sound guidelines developed by 
organizations like the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

The news media has readily noted a "prescription drug epidemic," but 
overdoses mainly result from drug diversion and misuse rather than 
from taking an opioid as prescribed. Epidemiological data has 
reported up to 16,500 deaths a year from the aspirin-ibuprofen family 
of medicines, which can cause ulcers, kidney failure and liver 
inflammation, none of which occur with opioids.

The major health issue for an opioid is addiction, which rarely 
occurs in a properly selected and treated patient. One must 
understand the difference between dependency and addiction.

Chronic, nonmalignant pain conditions are difficult to treat. 
Physician judgment is crucial and should not be inhibited by 
arbitrary limits that are not supported by the data.

LESLIE SCHOFFERMAN

San Francisco

The writer is a pain doctor.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom