Prescriptions for pain killers are on the rise, especially if you happen to be white.
The study appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. Prescribing narcotics for pain in emergency rooms rose during the study, from 23 percent of those complaining of pain in 1993 to 37 percent in 2005.
The increase coincided with changing attitudes among doctors who now regard pain management as a key to healing. Doctors in accredited hospitals must ask patients about pain, just as they monitor vital signs such as temperature and pulse.
Even with the increase, the racial gap endured. Linda Simoni-Wastila of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Pharmacy said the race gap finding may reveal some doctors’ suspicions that minority patients could be drug abusers lying about pain to get narcotics.
The irony, she said, is that blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. She was not involved in the current study.
The study’s authors said doctors may be less likely to see signs of painkiller abuse in white patients, or they may be undertreating pain in minority patients.
Awhile back I had surgery for a torn Miniscus, I didn’t have any pain but I was given a painkiller, I am sure my insurance company was charged for the pills and in fact I was directed to take them as a preventative measure. Pain management seems to be another one of those places where doctors could perhaps listen to their patients and perhaps avoid unneeded prescriptions and perhaps prevent drug addiction.
The entire article can be found here