My Questions:
Does anyone at the State or Federal Level realize the amount of damage and needless suffering these draconian, inhumane policies are causing and forcing upon millions of chronically ill Americans?
Where’s your OUTRAGE & FERVOR over protecting our rights?
Why is no one standing up and mobilizing, protesting, shouting, chanting, or speaking out about the atrocities being inflicted upon those of us in the pain community who are suffering in silence?
Pain does not discriminate. It affects people from ALL walks of life and can strike any one at any time. I wouldn’t wish this agony and torture on my worst enemy.
So, why is it that not ONE single elected official is willing to CHAMPION our cause and fight for the lives of cancer patients, chronic intractable pain patients, disabled veterans & wounded warriors, post surgical, trauma & accident patients, or palliative care & hospice patients?
Our government does NOT belong in our Doctors office and shouldn’t meddle with our health care decisions or treatment period.
Let’s make one thing clear…pain patients and prescribers are NOT the problem!
The overdose crisis is being fueled by ILLEGAL drugs including heroin laced with deadly (IMF) illicitly manufactured Fentanyl, Carfentanil (aka elephant tranquilizer), its analogs, and black market counterfeit look alike pills — NOT by legitimate doctors or pain patients diverting our opiate pain medication.
We have no CHOICE, unlike so many others who CHOOSE to abuse whatever substance is available to them. If we want pain relief, we must follow a maze of invasive procedures and excessive rules every month and jump through voluminous hoops just to obtain our legally prescribed pain medications in order to have a somewhat normal, bearable quality of life.
We take our pain medications responsibly as prescribed & directed without issue. However, there is no proverbial box that each and every one of us fit into, and our doctors should not be limited to prescribe a maximum, arbitrary dosage because every patient has various illnesses and different, complex needs.
Yet, after going through this seemingly endless merry go round each month, our choices are narrowing and our rights dwindling with every new regulation, restriction, and arbitrary attack on our doctors’ ability to prescribe our life saving, necessary pain medication.
Please leave our doctors alone and allow them to prescribe opioid pain medications for chronically ill patients as they see fit. Anything beyond that is a blatant infringement on the sacred doctor patient relationship.
Government/Law Enforcement Agencies should pursue ILLEGAL drug dealers, traffickers, producers, suppliers, and cartels. They should not be wrongfully and deceitfully targeting, surveilling, sanctioning & prosecuting physicians and prescribers for doing their job which they’ve been thoroughly trained and schooled to do.
If this cruel and INHUMANE behavior is allowed to continue, it will go down in history as the darkest, most flagrant violation of the rights of MILLIONS of Americans who are among the weakest, most vulnerable segment of our society!
We are terrified, our lives have been turned upside down because our government is instilling this unjustified fear in legitimate doctors and pain patients like myself. We are already suffering from unimaginable pain, and now we’re being looked down upon by society and instantaneously judged by our families and friends because of preconceived notions about weakness, inability to “fight through” the pain, and of course, subjected to the irresponsible myth and stigma being perpetuated by the mainstream media who refuse to acknowledge the difference between “addiction” vs. “dependence” on opiate pain medication to have a decent quality of life.
How much longer do we have to suffer the consequences and prove ourselves to the entire chain of command until we are taken seriously and afforded the same rights and respect given to the miniscule faction of our population who suffer from addiction? Are our lives not just as important and deserving?
Why should we be punished because of people who make a CHOICE to abuse legal and illicit/illegal substances for non medical purposes?
We have no CHOICE in the matter.
We were never given a CHOICE to begin with.
We comply with the OUTLANDISH rules & regulations created by government entities in order to receive our pain medication.
However, we are growing weary because of the exhaustive and inhumane conditions we are forced to suffer through just to survive another hour, another day, another week, another month….
How many more innocent lives need be lost until our government decides that enough is enough?
We are being thrown to the wolves and feel expendable and worthless leaving many to make drastic choices out of desperation to escape the debilitating pain.
I’ll admit that the thought of suicide has crossed my mind like thousands of others, and I’m terrified that I too will become a statistic of collateral damage. But our fight here is too important, so I continue to push myself each and every day to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. However, I’m not sure how much longer I can stay in this fight. My body is getting weaker and is beginning to shut down.
We need a true HERO to sponsor and introduce a Pain Patients & Physicians Protection Policy and Bill of Rights. Will you be that HERO?
Or will you continue to sit on your hands, bow your head, and follow the herd by choosing to ignore the plight of millions of law abiding American citizens and beloved veterans?
Our time is running out….But YOU can be responsible for saving MILLIONS of innocent lives during this terrifying time of uncertainty. I respectfully request a meeting with you to discuss this matter further and offer some common sense solutions to this dreadful, yet preventable situation.
Will you please help us?
Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrea Patti
Pain Warrior & Patient Advocate
War on Pain Patients: https://www.facebook.com/waronpainpatients/