You can very easily kill someone putting them through opioid withdrawal.
Restrict the hell out of opioids, and give away Ambien and psychotropic drugs like they are GD Tic Tacs. That totally makes sense, if you are freakin' moron.
Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewb0051
Message boards and forums all over the internet describe Tramadol as the spawn of Satan and most people's experience with it are horrible. It is now a controlled substance but still favored by some docs simply because it isn't Oxy or Vicodin or similar.
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That is because they use morphine equivalent dosing. You can lose your license for stepping out of line on this. This is an online calculator that gives you the morphine equivalent dose for some narcotics.
I know what you're thinking, "that does not sound like such a bad idea." Yeah, well the execution is a problem. You would think that body weight would enter into this calculation, because practically ALL drugs are dosed by body weight. You would think it would make a difference if you are talking about the dose for a 110 pound woman, versus the dose for a 350 pro football player. You would be wrong, but you would think they would take that into consideration. They do not.
https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/10170/morphine-milligram-equivalents-mme-calculator
Too bad Dr Rose is dead. He is why there is a sign in the hospitals that states you have a right to having your pain addressed. That "Pain is the Fifth Vital Sign" jazz, Harvey Rose MD. His deal was that they are dying of cancer, why do you care how much I give them to alleviate their pain.
Retaliation Against Harvey L. Rose, MD
Dr. Rose was a leading medical advocate for using prescription drugs even strong narcotics to alleviate chronic pain when other forms of treatment fail. He challenged the thinking of many physicians, who often avoid painkillers for fear of patient addiction or being disciplined for over-prescribing drugs.
He was a sympathetic man who cared strongly about patients, his family and colleagues said, and he believed doctors could safely and effectively provide medicines to ease needless suffering and enable patients to lead productive lives.
"He was a pioneer because he was so outspoken about it," said Bill Sandberg, executive director of the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society. "He was very tenacious on the whole pain thing and not afraid to prescribe."
His efforts almost cost Dr. Rose his medical license. In 1981, the California Medical Board brought charges accusing him of excessively prescribing pain drugs. He was found guilty, but the verdict was tossed out on appeal because part of the transcript was lost.
The case spurred Dr. Rose to push for legal protections for pain therapy. He helped state Sen. Leroy Greene draft the 1990 Intractable Pain Treatment Act, which shields doctors from discipline for prescribing potentially addictive drugs for serious cases. It was a key early measure in several steps California has taken toward greater pain management, including a 1997 Pain Patient's Bill of Rights. He lobbied for similar laws in Nevada and Oregon and appeared in a national news story on "48 Hours."
Meanwhile, a shift in attitude led the state medical board in 1995 to acknowledge that pain often is undertreated, and relief sometimes requires large drug doses. The same year, Dr. Rose was recognized as one of 10 "Heroes in Health Care" in a program sponsored by the Health Communication Research Institute.
"I don't think his contribution can be overstated," said Dr. Lee Snook, founder and president of Metropolitan Pain Management Consultants Inc. "He embraced the best tenets of being a physician to listen to patients and do whatever they have to do to alleviate their suffering. Harvey did that, even at his own risk."
Patients nationwide traveled to Dr. Rose for help. Besides his efforts to alleviate pain, he was renowned as a man of compassion, including footing the bill for those who could not afford to pay for prescriptions.