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News of the Day ... In Perspective04/01/2006U.S. doctors abandoning most vulnerable patients, says Arab News Usually more concerned about U.S. law enforcement actions against Muslims, the �Middle East�s leading English language daily� is featuring the DEA�s crackdown on physicians who prescribe opioids for chronic pain, and the patients who receive them. The cases of wheelchair-bound patient Richard Paey and �pioneering pain physician� William Hurwitz are but two of �hundreds of cases,� in which the U.S. government�s War on Drugs employs aggressive undercover investigation, asset forfeiture, and informers against physicians. Seizures of doctors� homes, offices, and bank accounts may leave them with no resources for their defense. �The Village Voice newspaper reports that medical schools are now advising students to avoid pain management practice altogether,� writes William Fisher in Arab News. Fisher quotes Professor Ron Libby in saying that �Many doctors have been convicted and almost no one has been acquitted.� �Frightened by what they term a `brutal display of executive power,� most doctors, including those in the field of pain management, have simply abandoned this sickest and most vulnerable segment of America�s population,� Fisher states. And �those few who do treat chronic pain with opioids impose severe restrictions on patients� freedoms.� http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=79723&d=25&m=3&y=2006 Additional information:
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