Richard A. Lawhern, PhD
Richard A. Lawhern is a nationally recognized health care educator and patient advocate who has spent nearly three decades researching pain management and addiction policy. His extensive body of work, including over 300 published papers and interviews, reflects a deep critique of U.S. health care agencies and their approaches to chronic pain treatment. Now retired from formal academic and hospital affiliations, Richard continues to engage with professional and public audiences through platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and his contributions to KevinMD. His advocacy extends to online communities like Protect People in Pain, where he works to elevate the voices of patients navigating restrictive opioid policies. Among his many publications is a guideline on opioid use for chronic non-cancer pain, reflecting his commitment to evidence-based reform in pain medicine.
Policy
I write as a health care educator and author with thirty years of research experience and over three hundred papers published as author or co-author, several of them widely cited. In that role, I see thousands of emails and social…
I write as a health care educator and author with thirty years of research experience and over three hundred papers published as author or co-author, several of them widely cited. In that role, I see thousands of emails and social media postings every month from people whose lives are being destroyed by misdirected and frequently outright fraudulent U.S. public health policy on treatment of pain and addiction. The …
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A letter to Congress: Repeal the Controlled Substances Act
Conditions
On Wednesday, September 9, 2026, the author spoke briefly at a hybrid conference conducted by the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C. This was only the most recent such "listening session" conducted over a…
On Wednesday, September 9, 2026, the author spoke briefly at a hybrid conference conducted by the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C. This was only the most recent such “listening session” conducted over a ten-year period. And from the first government speaker onward, the meeting reflected many of the historical biases and misdirection of U.S. health care agencies with respect to the so-called …
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Why CDC opioid guidelines get the overdose data wrong
Conditions
Anyone working as a clinician or pharmacist in pain medicine these days has heard the term "red flag" to the point of personal nausea. In everyday practice, the term has multiplied like termites, and with equally destructive effect on the…
Anyone working as a clinician or pharmacist in pain medicine these days has heard the term “red flag” to the point of personal nausea. In everyday practice, the term has multiplied like termites, and with equally destructive effect on the lives of patients and their doctors. It is almost always applied as a reason (actually an excuse) for denying patient access to safe and effective prescription opioid analgesics and/or benzodiazepine …
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Opioid red flags mean caution in medicine, guilt in law
Patients
About a year ago, KevinMD published an article that I wrote about avoiding online scams when one is highly visible in media as a patient advocate. During that year, I've come to recognize that I should have taken more of…
About a year ago, KevinMD published an article that I wrote about avoiding online scams when one is highly visible in media as a patient advocate. During that year, I’ve come to recognize that I should have taken more of my own advice on the subject.
I have also learned that the technology supporting online criminals has expanded at a far faster rate than I’d anticipated. AI-based search engines can …
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Book publishing scams took $7,500 from me by wire transfer
Education
As a health care educator and patient advocate on the one hand, and a retired nurse on the other, the authors regularly correspond with doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners. Richard Lawhern is a nationally recognized subject matter expert on pain…
As a health care educator and patient advocate on the one hand, and a retired nurse on the other, the authors regularly correspond with doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners. Richard Lawhern is a nationally recognized subject matter expert on pain management. Debra Lewis is a retired nurse who shares stories here of some of the nurses who were referred to her for tutoring after graduating from nursing school but failing …
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NCLEX failure rates expose gaps in nursing education
Conditions
According to Wikipedia and most dictionaries, "moral agency" is an individual's ability to make moral choices based on some notion of right and wrong and to be held accountable for these actions. A moral agent is someone "who is capable…
According to Wikipedia and most dictionaries, “moral agency” is an individual’s ability to make moral choices based on some notion of right and wrong and to be held accountable for these actions. A moral agent is someone “who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong” and who is responsible for correcting their own errors.
As a health care educator with three decades of research experience in …
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Moral agency in medicine is quietly disappearing
Physicians
Today, many physicians will be considering applying for employment at a hospital or clinic. You might be one of those. Finding your next employer is the most important decision you have made since you entered medical school, because selecting the…
Today, many physicians will be considering applying for employment at a hospital or clinic. You might be one of those. Finding your next employer is the most important decision you have made since you entered medical school, because selecting the wrong one may end your career as a doctor. And even if a bad employer choice does not end your career, you may have a difficult experience in re-starting your …
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Why the wrong physician employer can end your career
Conditions
On June 29, 2026, psychologist Adam Omary published a landmark observation in the Boston Globe, titled "The disability accommodation trap on college campuses." As he observed: "It was well-intentioned when the Americans with Disabilities Act was amended in 2008 to…
On June 29, 2026, psychologist Adam Omary published a landmark observation in the Boston Globe, titled “The disability accommodation trap on college campuses.” As he observed:
“It was well-intentioned when the Americans with Disabilities Act was amended in 2008 to include mental health conditions and learning disabilities as eligible for accommodations. But in practice, it created incentives for overdiagnosis. As The Harvard Crimson reported in December, the share of …
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Why psychiatric overdiagnosis fails the students who suffer
Conditions
My wife and companion of nearly 50 years is dead. She used to say that when I was home, the house was pretty quiet. As a health care educator and patient advocate, much of my time was spent at my…
My wife and companion of nearly 50 years is dead. She used to say that when I was home, the house was pretty quiet. As a health care educator and patient advocate, much of my time was spent at my computer in my study. But on the rare occasions when I traveled for work, the house was “too quiet” for her. If I didn’t before, I would understand what she …
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What home hospice care gave us in her final days
Conditions
As a prominent health care educator and advocate for chronic pain patients and their clinicians, I receive a large number of emails and potential papers in venues where I am active. Every week, I hear from people who have been…
As a prominent health care educator and advocate for chronic pain patients and their clinicians, I receive a large number of emails and potential papers in venues where I am active. Every week, I hear from people who have been harmed by U.S. government misdirection and outright health care fraud. Increasing numbers of those who come to me are doctors who have been railroaded into prison and had their lives …
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Why are doctors prosecuted for prescribing opioids?
Conditions
It is often said in popular literature that figures lie and liars figure. However, sometimes in science, the lie is by omission. What we don't say can be even more important in our conclusions than what we do. Two charts…
It is often said in popular literature that figures lie and liars figure. However, sometimes in science, the lie is by omission. What we don’t say can be even more important in our conclusions than what we do. Two charts illustrate this principle in a centrally important issue of U.S. clinical practice.
The first chart is compiled by Statista, a well-respected data services company known worldwide. It addresses the relative potency …
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Prescribing is down, opioid overdose deaths are not
Education
In 1900, life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years for men and women combined. By 2025, the figure had risen by about 32 years. Many U.S. citizens attribute this increase to the development of modern medicine and widespread availability…
In 1900, life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years for men and women combined. By 2025, the figure had risen by about 32 years. Many U.S. citizens attribute this increase to the development of modern medicine and widespread availability of antibiotics. However, while antibiotics have indeed contributed, they are overshadowed by changes that most of us take for granted and simply do not think about.
Treatment of public water supplies, …
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25 of 32 years of life expectancy came from this
Tech
My wife and I recently spent a few days on vacation at a South Carolina beach. We took time to stroll on the sand, take naps, kick back, and read. However, in the last-minute rush to pack for our trip,…
My wife and I recently spent a few days on vacation at a South Carolina beach. We took time to stroll on the sand, take naps, kick back, and read. However, in the last-minute rush to pack for our trip, I managed to leave my Kindle at home. Thus, I began the mental journey that resulted in this article.
My Kindle has been one of the nicest gifts my younger daughter …
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Why physical books matter in a social media world
Policy
KevinMD recently published a paper describing the horrible impacts of health care lobbying in the U.S. This article assesses how effective the lobbyists have been in misdirecting four key legislators on health care-related committees of the U.S. House of Representatives…
KevinMD recently published a paper describing the horrible impacts of health care lobbying in the U.S. This article assesses how effective the lobbyists have been in misdirecting four key legislators on health care-related committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
As we will shortly discover, these highly influential lawmakers have parts of their story right. They also have parts desperately wrong, in ways that are destroying American medicine …
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How health care lobbying distorts the U.S. opioid crisis
Conditions
In modern times, we frequently encounter messes in our public life. This seems particularly true in American health care, and it is certainly true in our politics. But few citizens seem to put the two issues together sufficiently to effectively…
In modern times, we frequently encounter messes in our public life. This seems particularly true in American health care, and it is certainly true in our politics. But few citizens seem to put the two issues together sufficiently to effectively demand change. Putting them together is what this article is about.
According to the nonprofit public interest group Open Secrets, individuals and political action committees spent a record $4.5 billion in …
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Health care lobbying is destroying the U.S. system
Conditions
The modern acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic was first recognized in the United States in early June 1981, when clusters of rare opportunistic infections were reported in young gay men in Los Angeles and other cities. Before the cause was…
The modern acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic was first recognized in the United States in early June 1981, when clusters of rare opportunistic infections were reported in young gay men in Los Angeles and other cities. Before the cause was understood, it was commonly called “GRID” (gay-related immune deficiency). In popular and some medical discussions, it was also referred to as the “gay plague,” “gay cancer,” and similar gay-specific labels. …
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The hidden realities of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and U.S. health care policy
Conditions
As much as I have written about pain and addiction care over the past three decades, daily life for most of my readers is about even larger values. This current conversation is about values that may change and shape our…
As much as I have written about pain and addiction care over the past three decades, daily life for most of my readers is about even larger values. This current conversation is about values that may change and shape our lives.
I grew up in an age before computers, much less electronic books or Kindle or the internet. I am a dinosaur when it comes to remembering too many darned passwords …
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Books that shape life values: a lifelong reading list
Conditions
My wife is dying. The day has yet to be determined, but the causes are certain. Stage 4 metastatic pancreatic and liver cancers will allow her a few weeks more in which to say goodbye to a large circle of…
My wife is dying.
The day has yet to be determined, but the causes are certain. Stage 4 metastatic pancreatic and liver cancers will allow her a few weeks more in which to say goodbye to a large circle of family and friends. She has decided not to undergo chemotherapy or radiation that at best might extend her life by a few weeks, at the cost of the quality of whatever …
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Lessons from 47 years: long-term marriage and palliative care
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