Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Inadequate Pain Control? You Bet!

Here is an expose on this very thing. How long have we patients complained that medical personnel are using an immobilization and amnesia "sedative" called Versed/Midazolam instead of giving patients adequate pain medications? Years? Decades? One of my readers sent me this article... I have included the entire e-mail she sent me, excluding her salutation to me personally. At the bottom of this post is the letter she sent to the Seattle Times.













































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Seattle Times Exposé on Inadequate Pain Care
Action Requested



Submit your comments to the Seattle Times applauding reporters’ efforts to expose the deplorable pain care in Washington state and tell your own state representatives that policies like this are unacceptable!



Dear American Pain Foundation member,



American Pain Foundation (APF) would like to share with you a series of articles published in the Seattle Times that expose deplorable and inadequate pain care for Washington state residents. Legislators and regulators in other states are closely following pain care legislation in Washington state which could, unfortunately, result in other states modeling their pain policies after these substandard policies.



Seattle Times staff writers Mike Berens and Kevin Armstrong reported on how new Washington state policies create unjust barriers and prevent people with pain from receiving appropriate pain care. These barriers include:





  • Policies that result in health care providers refusing to treat people with pain;

  • Policies that require a one-size-fits-all guideline for pain care; thereby encouraging providers to disregard specific needs of people with pain;

  • Regulations that cause people with pain to be treated differently than any other person with a disease or health condition (e.g., mandating use of signed treatment agreements and infringing on a person’s medical and personal privacy); and

  • Restricting access to pain care for Medicaid recipients and the uninsured (70 % of Washington state community health clinics no longer treat pain).


APF has been working diligently to improve pain care and challenge policies that impede access to pain care in Washington state and the rest of the U.S. It is important to applaud media reports that provide accurate accounts of pain management issues and expose barriers that hinder access to care.



Take Action! Join APF and applaud the writers for a job well done. Tell the Seattle Times how important it is to you that articles such as these continue to be published so that pain, its management and the barriers people with pain face are brought to the forefront in communities all across the country.



Here’s how:





  1. Read “State Pushes Drug that Saves Money, Costs Lives.” Then, follow the instructions on the page to submit your online comment.

  2. Read “New Law Leaves Patients in Pain.” Then, follow the instructions on the page to submit your online comment.


After submitting your online comments, we ask you to take one more step. Please email your state representative letting him/her know that the pain policies in Washington state are deplorable and should NOT be introduced in your state. Let’s make sure your voice is heard loud and clear that you will NOT support representatives who favor policies that hinder access to pain care, infringe on our privacy and contribute to further stigmatization. People with pain have a right to timely, appropriate and effective pain care!



Thank you for your continued support,



American Pain Foundation



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To: mberens@seattletimes.com






Mr. Berens,




Would you be interested in doing an article about the drug MIDAZOLAM? It is being used in surgery without our knowledge and causes long term brain damage in many people. {politely called "POCD" by doctors} I am one of them.




This drug is used ONLY to cause "Compliant Hypnosis and Amnesia", according to the drug manufacturers websites {so the doctors and hospitals can use less pain medications because "you won't remember it anyway"}. The problem is, this drug also causes Alzheimer's disease and long term intermittent amnesia, PTSD, rage disorder, etc..




According to government studies, one use of this drug can cause 20% to 40% permanent cognitive loss {this is one colonoscopy, a cataract surgery, one surgery of any kind, or even a minor procedure done in any hospital}. Yet, it is being used on us without our knowledge!! It is also used on preemies and sick babies. No one can explain this to me! Babies will NOT comply with an order nor do they need amnesia for any reason. Since it can cause permanent brain damage in adults, what is it doing to babies? Perhaps causing autism??




This is also the drug of choice for all "in house" Alzheimer patients---I do NOT understand this since the patients already have amnesia due to the disease process.




You can check out many different people's MIDAZOLAM story by going to: http://www.askapatient.com/ and click on "V" for VERSED and that will show over 800 posts from people who have been negatively affected. Under the actual name, MIDAZOLAM, there are an additional 18 posts that are all worth reading. Some of these people had actually told doctors and hospital staff NOT to use midazolam on them but were ignored and injected with it anyway. I also am in touch with other people who have permanent brain damage and ongoing amnesia from this drug who would love to tell their story. About 6 weeks ago a 14 year old girl died when she got versed in the dentists office to have a tooth removed. America is the ONLY country where Midazolam is used outside of a hospital setting.




There is group of us who are hoping to do a public protest sometime early summer 2012 {in Spokane, WA} to bring public attention to this drug and the damage it causes and the SNEAKY use of it . Many of us believe that perhaps the military or Homeland Security is behind the abuse of patients using this drug.




On this website http://www.rxlist.com/script/main/srchcont_rxlist.asp?src=midazolam&cat=rx-desc you can read of the 135 other medications that contain MIDAZOLAM and wonder, like the rest of us, WHY they have added an amnesiac & hypnotic drug to such things as asthma meds, cialis, birth control pills among the list.




I need another hip replacement but due to my experience with this drug and my ongoing amnesia I have chosen to live in a wheelchair when my other hip finally gives out altogether. I had my hip replaced so I could have my independence back, instead, it has been stolen from me forever, I can't drive, too much of a risk, I don't know if "automatic pilot" would take over and keep other people on the road safe from me {I am not the only one to be forced to give up driving due to this drug}, I can't go for a walk far from home in case I went into the amnesia state and got lost, etc.. I am not the only one, the difference is, I researched amnesia on the internet to find out what happened to me and discovered the midazolam, {an allergy to other drugs in this class was listed on my surgery forms} how many people have been damaged from this drug and don't know what happened to them?




Please help us to educate the public before any more people are permanently damaged with the blessings of the FDA and big "Pharma".




Sincerely,


Virginia


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