stress on others

[lorrb]

why do doctors continueto prescibe pills so the patient abuses them and he ends causing problems at home

[ChronicPain1]

Exactly.

[nurseaudrea]

That could not have been said better.

[nick30]

my comment was aimed at the original post.
what about yours?

[mareke]

Cheap and low sarcasm.

[nick30]

perhaps you could post this in the comedy forum?

[mareke]

An equally valid question could be-why should people in pain be forced to suffer because a minority of people that see doctors abuse their medication? Due to people living longer pain is probably the number growing and undertreated medical problem in advanced western countries with many people denied medication that would provide pain relief because governments appear to have the attitude that it's better to let thousands of people suffer rather than let one drug addict get high. Should the majority of people with legitimate reasons for needing medication be denied it to stop a minority from abusing it? If you denied anyone pain medication except those with unambiguous and provable severe pain it would ensure that no drug addicts slipped through but if that ever happened in my opinion society will have lost its humanity and the minority of people that abuse the system will have succeeded in causing even more innocent people to suffer than already happens.

If a person is abusing medication then blaming the doctor for the irresponsible behaviour of the patient would be valid if the doctor was prescribing the drugs knowing that the patient was using them solely to get high and in such a case the doctor would risk losing his licence if a complaint was made and found to be proven. Doctors aren’t infallible or mind readers and aren’t always able to distinguish between someone that genuinely needs pain medication to relieve suffering and someone that seeks it for other reasons. Since doctors are only human some will prescribe medication while others might realise that the patient needs say counselling rather than just medication but if the person won’t accept counselling and is determined to get medication he/she can still shop around until they find a doctor who will give them what they want. In such cases do you condemn the doctor that prescribes the drugs in good faith or the person that shops around until he/she gets the drugs by hook or by crook?

Sooner or later the person abusing the drugs is the one that needs to take responsibility for his/her own actions and if the family is suffering for the person’s behaviour as often is the case then the adult family members need to take action as difficult as that may be. It wouldn’t do any harm to talk to someone about the problem and see what options are available to you.