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No more suffering in silence

Opioid issue hurting those with chronic pain

I was fascinated by an opinion column in the Edmonton Journal on July 12 by Dr. Scott McLeod, (no relation), the registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta who writes that opioids are safe when prescribed properly.

The headline “Physicians won't abandon patients with pain" makes it glaringly obvious that pain patients have been abandoned (otherwise, why the article?). Over the last 18 months, I have talked with dozens of individuals who were, and are, chronic pain patients, and have been abandoned by their physicians, simply because the doctor in question had grown nervous about jeopardizing their medical licence and stopped prescribing opioids. 

These people were terrorized, and had no idea what they could do to get a new source of medication. Some had suggested they were going to try buying opioids from online foreign pharmacies, but they were extremely reluctant to do so, as they had no assurance the medication was “clean” or “pure”, or even if the medication matched what was written on the label.  We’ve heard countless stories of Chinese manufacturers putting all kinds of noxious, even poisonous products, into items designed for human consumption, so it’s easy to understand the concerns of these folks.  

Over a year ago, when the NDP was still in power, I wrote that Alberta Health Services (AHS) was “putting the fear of God into Alberta’s physicians”, and it was logical to assume that many of our province’s doctors would stop prescribing opioids. The roadblocks that AHS put up were exhaustive, speculative, and very threatening.

As is usual, the government totally overreacted and tried to intimidate the medical community with threats of investigations, sanctions, and cancellation of licences. It’s no wonder that Alberta doctors “ran for cover”, even a fool could have predicted this result. Now, to confuse things even worse, we’ve got the College of Physicians and Surgeons pleading that patients can’t be abandoned.  I hate to tell the college this, but it should be as obvious as the nose on your face that this process of abandoning patients has been going on for well over the last 18 months.    

The tragedy in all of this is that it’s not the doctors who suffered, or the bureaucrats, it was people in long-term severe pain who suffered.  Severe pain is crippling – it exhausts you, it destroys your quality of life, it creates confusion and depression, it limits sleep or relaxation, it makes you really question whether continuing to live is “really worth the while”.  All of this was totally unnecessary, it did not need to be handled this way – a thoughtful, balanced approach could have saved so much worry, fear, depression and pain. If you think I’m angry, you are 100 per cent correct.  Constant, endless suffering caused by some pencil pushers who didn’t give a damn about the suffering patient. Don’t tell me I’m wrong – I’ve met many who have suffered and are suffering and I am one of them.  

C.S. Lewis once wrote: ‘I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silent hurt more”. 

For me, there’s no more keeping silent.

Brian McLeod is a St. Albert resident.

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