By Pat Anson, PNN Editor
Proposed changes to the CDC’s opioid prescribing guideline are inadequate and will not undo the damage caused to patients and the practice of pain management, according to a large new survey by Pain News Network.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a long-awaited draft revision of its 2016 guideline in February, giving healthcare providers more flexibility in how they manage pain with opioids. Although voluntary, the original guideline was widely misapplied as a rigid “standard of care” by many states, insurers, doctors and law enforcement, causing millions of patients to be taken off opioids or tapered to lower doses.
The revised guideline states that “opioids can be essential medications for the management of pain” and encourages doctors to use their own best judgement when prescribing them. But many patients and providers believe the changes don’t go far enough and may even make the crisis in pain care worse.
“Appreciate the effort, but too little too late. These revisions are like trying to prevent disaster by course correcting the Titanic after it hit the iceberg,” one patient told use. “The revisions offer no protection against overzealous DEA interference and prosecution, and are meaningless in court. Until the draconian laws spawned by the guidelines are changed, things will only continue to get worse.”
“I believe it is a small step in the right direction, though the damage has already been done. The doctors who truly care about their patients and would like to help them are still terrified of the potential repercussions from the governing bodies,” another patient said.
“In 45 years of treating patients with pain, I have never seen it so difficult for patients to have their reports of pain taken seriously and get access to pain treatment,” a doctor said. “Patients often feel treated like addicts, and have had many professionals and family members supporting that erroneous and stigmatizing label.”
