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What's up with these "pain contracts"?

by psmith [6], October 05, 2006, 01:08pm
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Spurred by the federal government's crackdown on prescription drug abuse, doctors around the country are resorting to "pain contracts" with patients in an attempt to protect themselves from charges they are Dr. Feelgoods. Such contracts typically require the patient to agree that "lost, stolen, or misplaced" drugs are not to be replaced and that the patient agree to be drug tested. Patients who refuse to sign such an agreement or who test positive for non-prescribed drugs--i.e. marijuana--are likely to be cut off. There is at least one chronic pain patient in the Veterans Administration system who is challenging the pain contracts. I will be writing about his ordeal next week. In the meantime, I sit and ponder: Who benefits from these contracts? It doesn't appear to be the patients, who are basically treated as criminal suspects for wanting to relieve their pain. And how does the Hippocratic Oath fit into this? I'll be digging into the whole sorry issue. Stay tuned.
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