Last month saw a letter to the CDC, a letter that documented hundreds of patients suffering the adverse consequences of the CDC's guidance. The letter was signed by hundreds of doctors and nurses. And suddenly the CDC is stumbling all over itself to "clarify" their 2016 guidance:
It seems that a bunch of folks are giving the CDC attaboys for this. My take is different.Acknowledging the suffering caused by "misinterpretation" of the opioid prescribing guidelines it published in 2016, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday sought to clarify that it never recommended imposing involuntary dose reductions on chronic pain patients. In a letter to physicians who had objected to that widespread practice, CDC Director Robert Redfield emphasized that his agency "does not endorse mandated or abrupt dose reduction or discontinuation, as these actions can result in patient harm." Redfield described several steps the CDC is taking to research the impact of its guidelines and correct misunderstandings that have led to abrupt withdrawal, undertreated pain, denial of care, and in some cases suicide."I have seen many patients harmed by widespread misapplication of the Guideline," said Stefan Kertesz, a University of Alabama at Birmingham pain and addiction specialist who helped organize a March 6 letter on the subject that was signed by hundreds of health professionals. Kertesz welcomed the CDC's response, which came the same day that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about the risks of involuntary or fast opioid tapering.
The people at the CDC (and also it seems at the FDA) who wrote this guidance should be horsewhipped in the public square, and then denied pain medication. The Reason post linked above contains story after story from people forced to live in agony. Here's a sample quote from a patient:
"You don't know me, you don't walk in my shoes, you don't have my nerve damage, and you don't have to live with the thought of will today be the day that I kill myself because I can't take the pain anymore"And the CDC's answer? "Oops, my bad":
Redfield said the CDC is communicating with providers and health systems to "clarify the content" of its advice, to "emphasize the importance of developing policies consistent with the Guideline's intent," and to "highlight recommendations within the Guideline, including tapering guidance, options for non-opioid treatments for chronic pain, and communicating with patients."Let's break that down, shall we? Here's the translation from bureauticrese to English:
the CDC is communicating with providers and health systems to "clarify the content" of its advice
Our guidance was crappy and too vague, almost certainly because we were covering our ass with politicians breathing down our necks on this "War On Drugs" nonsense and we were a bunch of pussies that caved to the pressure.
to "emphasize the importance of developing policies consistent with the Guideline's intent"
It may be vague but we're still pussies worried about those damn politicians. But we're sorry we got caught and really really want this to get out of the public eye.
and to "highlight recommendations within the Guideline, including tapering guidance, options for non-opioid treatments for chronic pain, and communicating with patients."
Holy cow we're still pussies and are afraid of losing our jobs because the Politicians really really want their War On Drugs.The Government is a stumbling, bumbling idiot that crushes everything it touches. Remember, kids: it's not "Government Healthcare" or even "Socialized Healthcare". It's "Politicized Healthcare" and we're seeing it right now, before our very eyes. Just wait until that's the only thing left to us and the Politicians really start yanking the levers.
Jerks.
That the CDC and gov got it wrong is not necessarily a flaw. I jumped through the regulatory hoops for about six months in order to get the pain meds. I'd do it again. It wasn't that onerous but it was time consuming and the doctors involved knew damned well that the script was required. Knee replacement.
ReplyDelete"
OTOH, we knew at the outset it was addictive.
It was about 30 years ago that the gov did something similar and cracked down on doctors writing scripts for pain meds to hospices in Virginia. The doctors involved wrote scripts for "so-called massive amounts of pain meds" to hospices which were the end point for patients in their last weeks of life living with enormous pain from cancer. It was heartbreaking to watch the government's regulators pillory the docs that kept those patients as far from the pain as possible and be accused of being witches or something worse.
Overreaction followed by overreach... Typical .gov response... sigh
ReplyDeleteI am sure there are others out there that have had the passing wish that those folks who have caused others to suffer needlessly will, at some point, be afflicted and endure the pain that they have caused for our loved ones.
ReplyDeleteLightpoles. Ropes. Bureaucrats.
ReplyDeleteSome assembly required.
And bear well in mind, these are the exact same idiots who ensured guidelines that allowed Ebola treated outside a BL-IV hospital to double in exactly 21 days, just as if no precautions had been instituted, and told people it would never get here, but that "any hospital" could handle it" in 2014, and the same people who will be "in charge" of public health if this year's DRC outbreak gets out of Africa. Again.
I'm sure the fact that CDC has been siphoning 90% of the graduates of Ringling Bros. Clown School into their HR training program each year is pure coincidence.
Doctors forced by the CDC and DEA to write 12 or 52 prescriptions a year for opioid patients instead of 4: there's your "opioid epidemic".
QED
Horsewhipping until their bones show, followed by a fine public hanging, for everyone at CDC and DEA whose hand so much as touched this from then until now.
Anything less is criminally negligent under-prosecution.