Once served, bears repeating

Painkillers and other ‘problems?’ I have a problem (and,) my problem is pain. What do you suppose I should do about it? Well, the obvious answer, to me at least, is I should take my problem to my doctor and see what he might be able to do about it: And therein lies the rub: My doctor does not want to prescribe pain killers. So--why is this? It seems pain killers are now a popular issue of choice for our lawmakers. All of them (the lawmakers, not the pain killers) are jumping on this bandwagon lest they be seen as promoting the use of these addictive substances, mostly the oxycodons, or hydrocodons (each has various commercial names) and the problems (addiction, overdose, death) that may accompany their misuse. And, while our legislators’ injecting their (questionable) opinions, bills, and votes into this issue may make them seem responsive and give them an issue that may increase their popularity in some quarters, it does nothing for the person who may benefit from using the medications in question—the person in pain. Our legislators need to examine problems and issues that relate to the public. Our doctors need to deal with problems and issues that relate to the needs of each individual patient. While some time the twain will meet, when the legislators interject themselves between the doctors and their patients, they are making public decisions on issues that should be kept between two individuals—the doctor and his patient. Public solutions are not solutions that may be tailored to the needs of individuals, as the decisions of doctors for and with their patients must of necessity be tailored to each individual situation. If our legislators insist on inserting themselves between us and our doctors, I think we need to insert ourselves between our legislators and their jobs. Correcting my pain is not a public matter. My legislator needs to remove himself from interfering with my relationship with my doctor. My pain is not a public problem. Posted by Stephen V. Geddes