DrugBuyers.Com: undertreatment of pain

A new risk emerges: Provider accountability for inadequate treatment of pain
The emergence of new pain management guidelines and standards may facilitate establishing that pain care provided in specific cases was inadequate and warrants professional discipline.

Kathryn L. Tucker, JD, writing in Annals of Long-Term Care, notes the guidelines' emphasis on mandatory evaluation and routine charting of pain may also make civil liability possible on various grounds, including professional negligence and elder abuse.

Medical organizations establishing standards or guidelines for pain treatment include the World Health Organization, the American Pain Society, the American Medical Association, the AHCPR, the Federation of State Medical Boards, and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. These guidelines all indicate the importance of pain management as an element of medical treatment.

In addition to new clinical practice guidelines, there are other signs the "laissez-faire attitude regarding inadequate treatment of pain is beginning to change," Tucker says. In 1999, a state medical disciplinary board took corrective action against an Oregon physician who failed to treat his patients adequately for pain.

As these types of cases become more common, risk managers can be expected to undertake efforts to minimize risk, leading to more attentive and aggressive provision of pain care.

One state legislature introduced a measure in the 2000-2001 legislative session that would require the Medical Board to impose corrective action on a physician in the form of mandatory education in palliative care and pain management.

"By amending state law relating to pain in this way, essential steps in encouraging and motivating physicians to treat pain appropriately will be accomplished," Tucker notes. "Until physicians are aware that professional consequences and accountability attach if they fail to treat pain adequately, necessary improvement in provision of pain care will not occur." (Tucker K. Annals of Long-Term Care. 2001;9(4):52-54.)
http://www.partnersagainstpain.com/html/profed/pmc/pe_pmc4.htm?pg=7501§ion=pe_pmc4