When physicians receive little training in pain management and fear prescription drug abuse, patients suffer. That’s one of the conclusions reached by an Oregon State University College of Pharmacy expert in pain management and the author of two new professional articles calling on patients to be persistent advocates for proper care.
An Oregon State University press release quotes pharmacist and affiliate faculty member Kathryn Hahn as noting that “many doctors are not fully informed about all the options available, and also often turn patients away because they’re very concerned about the problems with prescription drug abuse. Because of this, many people suffer needlessly with pain that could be treated, and almost 80 percent of visits to community pharmacies involve pain issues.” Hahn chairs the Oregon Pain Management Commission, a program created by the state Legislature in 1999 to raise awareness about chronic pain issues among health care providers, policy makers, and the public.
Hahn notes statistics reporting that at least 30 percent of patients with moderate chronic pain and over 50 percent of those with severe chronic pain fail to achieve adequate pain relief. The current data echoes conclusions that law professor Barry R. Furrow reached nearly ten years earlier, when he wrote that pain “is undertreated in the American health-care system at all levels: physician offices, hospitals, longterm care facilities. The result is needless suffering for patients, complications that cause further injury or death, and added costs in treatment overall.”
Chronic pain may follow a serious work-related injury, an automobile accident, or a personal injury of many other kinds. Failure to manage such pain properly may give the patient a variety of possible legal claims. Depending on the facts, an action may be brought against a care provider for a negligent failure to medicate the patient adequately or refer him or her to a pain management specialist. Physicians unskilled in pain management may also negligently overmedicate, causing addiction and/or serious side effects. They may fail to advise patients of the risks associated with treatment or inform patients about alternate treatment methods. Pain management may also be a component of a claim for medical malpractice of some other kind if serious personal injury has resulted.
An Oregon personal injury lawyer should be consulted in any case where medical negligence is suspected. If you or loved ones are experiencing chronic pain due to serious injuries, the Law Office of Dane E. Johnson offers a no-cost, no-obligation case evaluation. Contact Portland medical malpractice attorney Dane Johnson online, or call us toll free at (800) 714-3204.
Related Web Resources
Oregon State University, Press Release, Pain Management Failing As Fears of Prescription Drug Abuse Rise (Jan. 4, 2010).
Barry R. Furrow, Pain Management and Provider Liability: No More Excuses, 29 J. Law, Med. & Ethics 28, 28 (2001).
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