Subject: Briefings News

Pain Management Groups Call for Rights and Compassion at Capitol Hill Briefing

December 18, 2003

Several pain management advocacy groups from around the nation held a Capitol
Hill panel briefing Tuesday in support of eliminating harsh Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) penalties and other coercive federal practices faced by
patients and doctors who seek to properly treat chronic pain. The well-attended
briefing in the House Rayburn Office Building, sponsored by the Association
of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a sixty-year-old group that
represents private physicians across the country, drew many Congressional staffers,
lawyers, representatives from advocacy organizations, members of the national
media, and patients and caregivers. The panel addressed the extreme measures
the DEA has taken to target doctors who prescribe pain medications – ranging
from OxyContin to prescription versions of Tylenol – for their seriously ill
patients.
Moderator Kathryn Serkes, President of Square One Media Network, steered the
briefing’s panel of seven experts:
• William Hurwitz, MD, indicted pain management specialist;
• Julie Stewart, Families against Mandatory Minimums;
• Siobhan Reynolds, Founder/President, Pain Relief Network;
• Rev. Ronald Myers, Sr., MD, Founder/President, American Pain Institute;
• Ronald T. Libby, PhD, Professor, University of North Florida;
• Jane M. Orient, MD, Clinical lecturer, University of Arizona; and
• James Martin, President, 60 Plus Association.
Though the DEA was invited to attend the event by briefing organizers, it
declined to send a representative.
The panel explored a wide array of pain management issues, including federal
and state law enforcement initiatives; patient and physician experiences; the
unbalanced impact of DEA practices on African Americans, the elderly, and
low-income communities; the serious economic consequences that arise from
untreated and undertreated pain; the need for DEA funding oversight; medical-marijuana
access; sentencing reform; privacy concerns; Congressional legislation and
hearings; and exploring ways to foster cooperation between lawmakers,
regulators, law enforcement, physicians, pharmacists, and patients.
Panelists cited data showing untreated and undertreated pain to be an
epidemic. An estimated 50-75 million Americans suffer from chronic pain each day, and
pain results in more lost work days than heart disease and cancer combined.
The economic consequences of this epidemic, say experts, far exceed $100
billion each year. With access to proper pain medications, patients are often able
to continue to be productive full-time workers; without it, many are
debilitated and confined by pain to their homes.
Panelists also pointed out the many ways in which the federal government has
ruined the businesses, reputations, and lives of doctors who provide
life-giving and appropriate pain treatment. Acting on information collected by the DEA,
doctors have been de-licensed by state medical boards and hauled into federal
court on trumped-up charges of racketeering, fraud, money laundering,
malpractice, or even murder. Many have been sentenced to decades-long federal prison
terms. In light of this, the attendance of Dr. Hurwitz, a renowned
pain-management caregiver who is currently under house arrest in Virginia, was especially
important. Dr. Hurwitz, who had to obtain permission to attend the event and
could not speak about his case on orders from his lawyers, was charged this
year with over-prescribing medications like OxyContin to patients around the
country, many of whom suffered from cancer, chronic back pain, arthritis, or
diabetes. His case is pending.
Doctors are not alone in being targeted by the DEA. In one case, described by
Rev. Myers, Sr., MD, seventeen patients of a physician who was forced by the
DEA to shutter his medical practice committed suicide. The patients, like
their doctor, had been blacklisted and were refused treatment by other physicians
who feared DEA reprisal if they treated the sanctioned doctor’s patients.
To download briefing handouts, please click here. To learn more about America
in Pain, the National Pain Patients Coalition April 19, 2004 march on
Washington, please click here.

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Siobhan Reynolds
Family Member of a Chronic Pain Patient
Founding Executive Director
PRN
www.PainReliefNetwork.org
"Standing up for patients in pain and the doctors who treat them"

Siobhan Reynolds
Family Member of a Chronic Pain Patient
Founding Executive Director
PRN
www.PainReliefNetwork.org
"Standing up for patients in pain and the doctors who treat them"