Could things in the war on drugs’ facade starting to show cracks ? There has been a few things coming to the front that may suggest that may be the case…
I have made several posts over the past couple of weeks that I have not seen before
The “NO WIN GAME” … damn if you do… damn if you don’t
we know that it is normal for the DEA to come after a prescriber when a pt OD’s on opiates.. it is as if a prescriber never has a pt die… never has one that commits suicide… and that all opiate OD’s are “accidental “? I have had untold number of chronic pain pts that have told me that they have contacted numerous law firms about suing for denial of care, ADA violations, pt abuse, medical battery and the like and have yet to find a law firm that is interested in their case.
The above article about a prescriber is being sued for a pt’s suicide – no doubt it was a suicide because the pt used a GUN… the prescriber had been weaning the pt off of his opiates for about one month and had promised to continue assistance in weaning for another month.. when the pt chose the ultimate solution to end his pain.
Yet a law firm is apparently ready, willing and able to sue this prescriber on behalf of the pt’s spouse because of the pt’s suicide. Is this lawsuit just an anomaly or the first in many that may come to bear on prescribers for various reasons in failing to properly treat – or not treat at all – chronic pain pts.. especially those suffering from intractable moderate/severe chronic pain and have a medical necessity for 24/7 opiate therapy ?
if I approve too many expensive drugs, I won’t get my bonus at the end of the month.
This is story about a number of medical directors for various insurance companies who stated that they routinely deny coverage of care because they didn’t want to lose their monthly bonus. Who believes that a for-profit health insurance company really has the pt’s health/quality of life as a primary focus of the reason that they are in business ?
medical director insurer admitted he never looked at patients’ records when deciding whether to approve or deny care.
Does anyone believe that this one medical director from Aetna is a OUTLIER or just the first one that was under oath in a court of law… and the doctor’s “reasoning” was that “he was following Aetna’s training, in which nurses reviewed records and made recommendations to him.” So it would appear the Aetna is basically granting nurses both diagnostic and prescriptive authority. The term “nurse” can cover a whole range of educational background… from a 1 yr LPN, 2 yr RN, 4 yr BSRN, ARNP, PA, NP. What if those nurses have the same monthly bonus incentive as those medical directors in the previous article ? CVS Health is in the process of buying Aetna for some 60 + BILLION… it would appear that the profitability of Aetna is quite sizeable…
Are we going from a covert GENOCIDE to CARPETING BOMBING the chronic pain community ?
We are seeing entities (PBM) Prescription benefit managers that are dictating how much or little opiate therapy a pt can have… the letter in this posts demonstrates that CVS is demanding that this particular pt reduce the pt’s Methadone from 70 mg/day to 24 mg/day and eliminate the 20 mg Oxycodone 4xd as needed for breakthru. This is the therapy that this pt has been on for numerous years and according to the date on this letter the pt was being granted 60-90 days to wean down to what CVS considered a therapeutic level for this particular pt. “to help ensure the pt’s use of opiates for pain management is SAFE “
now if this pt has been taking this amount of opiates for years… the pt is – without a question – opiate dependent and since the pt has not experienced any adverse reaction to this dosing level.. for this particular pt… it should be considered SAFE
how many more cracks in this war on drugs facade will we see over the near future and how much longer are law firms going to stand on the side lines and turn a blind eye to what is happening to not only chronic pain pts, but all too many pts with chronic diseases ?
Filed under: General Problems
Thank you! I hope this lawsuit gets attention.
The last part of your post Steve, about the methadone and oxy’s could be … ME!!! This is exactly what’s happening to me. It’s devastating!
I can’t wait for the FDA to get a clue. I bet they got a burned out bulb for a brain because even Stevie Wonder can see this is bullshit from the get go.
just a fyi,,according to the cvs FORCED denial of access to effective dosage of meds,,,telling said patient what they are allowed,,,the date was December 18th,,,soo u receive it 1 week later,,,and Feb 1st,,,is only 6 weeks,,44 days to drop down from 70 mill of methadone,,,just fyi,,,What if they could not see their Doctor till the 1st of febuary,,soo,,,???what is that like 1 day,24 hours,forcible drop their meds by 60 milligrams,,,,wow,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,maryw
pss,,,if,,i was that patient,,i would1st think,,wth,y aren’t they paying for my medicine now,,,not thinking anything about dropping anything,,,,and what a shock I would be in,,,when a doctors tell u,,,thats all he can prescribe,,It would literally be 1 day,,,to drop a medicine,,they’ve vbeen taking for years,,not to mention,,,notta for break thru,,,yikes,,maryw