Pain Management
Why doctors risk jail time to treat pain and addiction
This is a strange time in America. While tools for treating pain and addiction, unchanged essentially from the late 1800s to the early 2000s, are now being developed, daring to try to utilize these medications and the science we have learned about them can be a huge risk. Not for the patient but for the doctor. There is a stigma that has always been attached to these areas of medicine, …
Non-opioid alternatives and the future of reimbursement [PODCAST]
The doctor’s struggle: How prescription opioids can lead to addiction
In the heart of America, the opioid epidemic continues to surge, claiming lives and livelihoods with an unrelenting grip. While many believe that addiction stems from illicit drug use, a significant portion of opioid addictions actually begin with a prescription from a doctor. This troubling reality is exemplified by the experiences of Dr. Jeffrey Fraser, a family practice physician from Lincoln, Nebraska, who found himself ensnared in the very crisis …
A consulting firm under fire: Examining a new criminal probe in opioid crisis
Roughly a month ago, a prestigious consulting firm found itself, once again, in hot water for its involvement in allegedly contributing to the opioid crisis. We saw many of the same headlines competing for the top spot in our inbox.
“Justice Department is investing in an elite consulting firm.”
“Top management firm under criminal investigation.”
Beneath that, we saw a second layer of headlines, with a more scandalous tinge of corporate gossip.
“Former partner …
Opium wars to fentanyl crisis: a history of drug conflicts
Drug use has a complicated history in the Western World. Not quite two hundred years ago, starting in the Fall of 1839, Britain attacked the nation of China for having the audacity to ban an addictive substance, opium, that the British were selling to the Chinese people. Opiate addiction was rampant in China at the time, and the emperor had issued a prohibition on the drug. Britain destroyed much …
30 years in pain management: Transforming lives beyond opioids
Over thirty years as a physician, I have proudly and intentionally developed my subspecialty in pain management. As an interventional physiatrist, it is my chosen calling to improve the quality of life of people in pain and help them get moving again. I’ve had the privilege of overseeing many remarkable recoveries, including those by patients who had little hope when they first came to my office. Though this has been …
CRISPR and eEVs in the fight against chronic diseases
In one of my favorite movies, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the original crew of the Enterprise has traveled through time, back to the, to them ancient, city of San Francisco circa the 1980s. It’s all about Earth whales and alien cetaceans being none too pleased that we killed them all … And Klingons, of course. There must be Klingons. But what stuck in my young mind at the …
From WWII to chronic pain: a family’s legacy of courage and sacrifice
Memorial Day just passed, and I reflected on those in my extended family who were lost in battle. My stepfather’s two brothers, whose names are carved in the World War II monument of a nearby small town, are most prominent in my mind. If I remember correctly, one died in Germany and the other in the Pacific. My stepdad was so affected by the loss of his older brothers that …
DEA vs. doctors: Who’s really breaking the law on controlled substances? [PODCAST]
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Join us as we delve into the intricate web of discrepancies surrounding pain medication availability and governmental oversight. Our guest, L. Joseph Parker, a research physician, sheds light on recent revelations regarding the …
The DEA’s latest targets: doctors treating addiction instead of pain
I have been writing for a while about how the DEA will run out of targets for opioid prosecutions because most doctors are too terrified to treat pain, and now it looks like it has happened. Three doctors in Tennessee were recently convicted of prescribing controlled medications “outside the usual practice of medicine” and “not for a legitimate medical purpose.” The interesting thing is that these doctors weren’t treating pain; …
Legal risks for doctors and compliance solutions [PODCAST]
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In this episode, family physician and author of Burden of Pain: A Physician’s Journey through the Opioid Epidemic, Jay K. Joshi, with his extensive experience defending physicians, illuminates the pressing need for compliance …
Doctors or criminals? How misleading narratives hurt innocent lives
When it comes to journalism and health care prosecutions, today’s “papers” are so yellow that they could damage vision like a 580 nm laser. I have personally seen and suffered from this unbalanced approach to reporting and felt a need to provide a counternarrative based on reason instead of hyperbole. After studying hundreds of cases, I will argue that in roughly fifty percent of these, the government has paid hundreds …
Pain management realities [PODCAST]
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Join L. Joseph Parker, a research physician, as we delve into the biases and challenges faced by health care professionals in diagnosing and treating chronic pain, particularly in marginalized communities. Joseph sheds light …
The hidden dangers of mislabeling pain patients: a medical crisis
I am very concerned about the mislabeling of patients who suffer from pain that is being carried out in a wholesale fashion by some in the American medical community. This mislabeling is the result of the most dangerous combination in the world: good intentions and avarice. These two have recently combined to create distortions that are now to the point of wholesale fraud. Calling something what it is not can …
AvertD: Can a simple test help reduce opioid addiction?
When I heard about the new AvertD genetic test, pronounced like “averted,” I was compelled to contact the CEO of SOLVD Health, the maker of AvertD, and ask him to answer some of my questions. To my surprise, he was willing to do so, and here is what I learned from the training documents that will be mandatory for all prescribing MDs.
First, AvertD is not for use in patients receiving …
Doctors beware: Your credentials could land you in prison
I hate to say that we should follow the Fox Mulder School of Paranoia on this one, but the evidence is clear. You can go to prison for what others do with your credentials. Being a doctor comes with incredible privileges, or at least it used to. Now, with the corporate takeover of medical care, we get to work ourselves to death and be hung out to dry if someone’s …
Non-opioid post-op pain relief [PODCAST]
Addiction treatment, legal troubles, and the role of the DEA [PODCAST]
Elite access vs. public scrutiny: Medication disparities exposed
A recent New York Times opinion piece detailed a lack of available pain medications. While the DEA claims that it is not purposefully restricting legitimate medication availability, even the names of its own operations belie this statement. On Halloween 2023, the DEA launched Operation “Bottleneck,” serving immediate suspension orders to six large pharmaceutical supply companies. These companies were accused of having failed to account for “a million doses” of …
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