reader beware...u might not be able to stomach this!

[TwinsMommma]

http://www.aapsonline.org/painman/fisher.pdf

enough said...

please go to this address above.....note the sarcastic DISCLAIMER written by the narcisitic, non-compassioate, smart a$$ author.....also notice how he refers to us chronic pain sufferers as "victims"...just one example of his demoralizing pop shots...

[TwinsMommma]

tuck...by the way...IS THERE ANYWAY TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT TITLE of this post...it was a knee-jerk reaction and i feel bad every time i see it!
can it just say something like interesting read or whatever...maybe being u r a moderator u can just re-name it what ever u think?? please...

[TwinsMommma]

oh good...thank you for taking the time to read that...i now feel entirely more bad for the dr than my brief feelings of attack...for lack of a better word...i'm actually angry on his behalf for what he endured ...endured b/c he chose to treat his pain patients the way he would want to be treated...and not the backwards way he was trained...
i had such a great conversation with my PCP today during a follow-up.....i have been with him for 4 yrs...he referred me to PM specialists b/c he knew i wanted to move forward with more aggresive treatments for low back pain...when he asked how it went i kinda reluctantly shrugged...it's ok...as he inquired more...i told him that this dr in a very clever, passive aggressive way spent more time cross-examining my every complaint with inuendos that my complaints of worsening pain may be the good ole 'in your head' diagnosis...he did not even glance at my mri the first 2 visits...well my PCP said he will take back over my med managment and this dr will be doing the medial branch and rhizotomy...the new dr said that is fine...he felt bad and assured me  (this was 3rd visit) that i had significant damage and it;s not in my head..also that it's up to me...but he is ok with managing meds for me as well....sorry long story...my point was to brag (if that's ok...not to rub in face of pain patients face...but to give hope that these dr's do exist...even in general practice) about my great, empathetic PCP!

[namnam46]

Tuck,

I read the entire article ( boy was it along read) and I found it to be very compelling. I have to totally agree with you. All he was doing was warning his colleagues exactly what they were going to have to do to protect themselves from the DEA. I finally found (after I had searched a LONG time) the part where he referred to "Chronic Pain Victims". He didn't use it in any type of a derogatory way at all. I think it's on page 7 where he is giving definitions. I believe it's under the definition for Opiads. He was just referring to the fact that "chronic pain victims" can't produce enough endorphins to ease their pain and therefore that's why they need the opiates.

Like I said I found it to be very interesting and very informative also.

I too feel very sorry for what our PM Dr's have to go through. I totally understand where they are coming from and why they have to do the things that they have to do. Also, why they have to be incredibly careful with their testing. I just wish that they would give a second test, be it blood or hair it doesn't matter, if there is a problem with the urine screen.

Thanks for posting this,Twinsmomma, I think you might have read more into it than there was. I really didn't get anything derogatory about us the CP patient or victims (which I refer to myself as sometimes) at all from this. However, I know everyone reads things differently. :)

It was very informative...Sherry

[Tuckamore]

I have not had the opportunity to search again. I did read all the things they did to this physician. Over 550 felony counts, including 2 murders.....later all were dismissed. However he lost everything. He did get his medical license back but he lost his practice.

I found these articles in several areas, in several forms. The one I quoted was submitted to congress in 2004. He really felt for his chronic pain patients and treated them. He even refused to treat ones he thought were not legitimate, including several DEA agents that were apparently part of a sting operation. He was still charged.

I cannot blame this physician for his bitterness and warnings to his colleagues. He was not the only one that was arrested at the time. I think I would feel the same way. It's just another log placed in the way for CP patients to obtain treatments that include narcotics from physicians that practice good pain management.    

Just my thoughts.
~Tuck

[TwinsMommma]

just in case ypu all who interested can not find article i'm referring to....if your at the aapsonline.org  home page...u need to scroll all the way down to bottom area where it lists multiple topics or issues....look in the bottom right hand bulleted list under pain management....click that...and many articles come up...it is the bulleted article called
"a guide for pain-treating physicians"
it is a very long read...but u will get drawn in....it is confusing at times b'c some info seems reasonable and some is mocking-like....WHAT STOOD OUT TO ME WAS THE DISCLAIMER I MENTIONED ABOVE....with out reading the disclaimer it would be more confusing...but the disclaimer clearly states the following read is tongue and cheek,,,and so i knew what that meant..but i looked it up just to make sure...defintion below...

Tongue-in-cheek is a term used to refer to humour in which a statement, or an entire fictional work, is not meant to be taken seriously, but its sarcasm is subtle.

[TwinsMommma]

hey tuck....when i put in the address above it comes to this title
SURIVING AMERICA’S
WAR ON DRUGS
A GUIDE FOR PAIN-TREATING
PHYSICIANS
Frank B. Fisher, MD

the disclaimer is as follows and it is below the table of contents


Disclaimer: This document is offered tongue-in-cheek fashion. No physician
possessed of good judgment and any instincts for self-preservation, who becomes
cognizant of the menace represented by the current regulatory situation surrounding the
management pain, would actually even consider prescribing opioids in the treatment of
chronic pain conditions. In other words, don’t try any of this at home.

did u see this??  well, after reading your post i can understand his bitterness....but...his lashing out at patients in his "tongue and cheek" as he says...seemed to me a little bit below the belt...maybe i just read into it too much or being too sensitive...i don't know...he obviously must have had some patients testify against him..again, i empathize with his situation but gee wiz....some of the words he used hurt my feelings...but i'm passed it...i won't let this kinda stuff bother me for very long...just a couple minutes or so....although, i am curious to what others got out of it....for example he says "Chronic pain is a malignancy," meaning it's  to become progressively worse and to potentially result in death. used in cancer diagnosis....it's one of i felt his little pop shots at making fun at how chronic pain patients spend all their time complaining and waiting to die in a "oh poor me" kinda way....AGAIN, I COULD HAVE TAKEN IT THE WRONG WAY....


anyways....just wondering other people's thoughts

[Tuckamore]

Hi Twinsmommma,

I accessed the address you provided. So many selections came up and I did read many of them. What I was able to find was from:

"Materials Distributed at AAPS 9/18/2004 Briefing to Congress - "Politics of Pain"
From: "Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc.
           A Voice for Private Physicians Since 1943"

The material provider by Dr. Frank Fisher in 2004 was extremely concerning. I did not see the disclaimer that you refer to above. But again there are so many articles that came up on this incident. Dr Fisher is a physician that treated chronic pain. He was arrested by the DEA, shackled, all assets were frozen and he was thrown in jail for hundreds of charges including several murder charges. However in time these charges were all dismissed. It an interesting read. It provides some insight from a physicians pint of view.

Here is in part Dr. Fisher's statement in 2004. I found it very enlightening.

BEGIN:  "I’m here to debunk a myth. This is the myth of available pain treatment. Most of you probably think that if you get chronic pain, your physician will control it for
you. Don’t count on this, because it isn’t going to happen."

"Let me tell you what will happen. Rather than risk his own neck by treating your
pain, your physician will let you suffer unnecessarily, and maybe even let you die.
By itself, that would be bad enough, but that’s only half of it. If you get chronic
pain, your physician will also abuse you."

"Here’s what you can expect. If your pain is out of control, and you request a larger
prescription, your physician is trained to identify this as an “aberrant” drug-related
behavior. What this means, is he will think you are a drug addict. Instead of
prescribing the medications you need, he will respond with threats to terminate
your treatment altogether. That isn’t pain control, its abuse."

"Your physician isn’t evil. He was trained to abuse you in this manner. Guidelines,
established by academic medicine require this of him. Your physician’s unethical
conduct is pain treatment delivered in the requisite drug war style." END

Obviously I cannot share all that I have read today on Dr Fisher's case and other similar cases. This was in 2004. I certainly hope that pain management has come a long way since that year. And I hope that these physicians are more protected. If you read even part of it it will make you wonder why any physician in his right mind would want to practice pain management.

~Tuck