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I would like to introduce you to the problem - some of the reasons that people in pain are not being treated properly in this country; sometimes they're not treated at all.
I call this The American Inquisition for several reasons.
In the religious Inquisitions, there was no way that people who were being accused could answer any question or accusation that was not interpreted as supporting the accusation - all who were accused were guilty, period. This is the same for chronic pain patients, to whom I will refer as CPPs from now on. Here are a few examples:
Patient:
"The drugs only take the edge off the pain."
"Just give me something to take the pain away. Do something, anything!"
"I just want to stop hurting."
"Nothing else helps."
There are medical textbooks out that quote these very phrases and others like them, telling these nursing and medical students that these things are what addicts say. Of course, CPPs say them spontaneously, as they are reasonable things to say if you are and have been hurting without relief; the books don't mention this, however. Solutions that are on offer usually range from inhumane to horror stories: I had a Nursing Manual from the late seventies that advocated prefrontal lobotomy for intractable pain!
Despite test results that show a patient should be in pain - though often tests are never done - doctors can and do answer all of these with, "That's exactly what an addict would say". It reminds me of the old question, "Have you stopped beating your wife yet? Answer yes or no". Of course, there's nothing you can say that isn't incriminating. It's exactly the same for a CPP. If he wants drugs, he must be an addict, so he gets none (as though an addict deserves no pain relief). If he doesn't emphasize that only the narcotics bring any relief, he still gets none. Either way, no one looks for a cause or reason if he thinks he already knows the answer, and addiction is enough of an answer to obviate the tests. It's always a lose-lose situation.
