[Noah930]

The reason why it is a bit of a manufactured crisis dates back about 15 years ago when "they" (some bureaucrat or committee) decided that pain was Uber important. So "they" decreed pain as "the 5th vital sign." Elevated in importance to the same level as heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature. Pain became ranked on a scale of 1-10.

The federal government added to this more recently by suggesting that provider reimbursement will be linked to patient outcomes. Not just on things like do your patients live or die, or infection rates, but also by patient satisfaction ratings. Was your doctor nice to you? Warm bedside manner? Pain control? (Remember, it's that 5th vital sign.). Not only will providers be paid for what they do, but how much they get paid gets modified by their patient outcome/satisfaction rate!

Of course, we live in America, too, the land of customer satisfaction. The customer is always right. (Let me tell you something--in the world of medicine where frequently the decision-making is based on pretty complicated variables, the customer/patient is often not right, because they don't have the knowledge and experience to truly understand their own big picture.). Combine that with a society that pushed (and still does) for patient advocacy (you know your own body--don't listen to what someone else is telling you). Also add in society's expectation for life to be pain and suffering free. And don't forget about social media/Yelp scores. It's a disaster for complicated issues like pain and pain control.

No surprise that we have an opioid epidemic now. The federal government and bureaucrats have been unwittingly setting the stage for it for the last 10-15 years. And now these same factions think they know best on how to fix it? Good freaking luck.