J Walking

J Walking

Dying without relief

posted by David Kuo | 3:48pm Monday September 10, 2007

Horrifying story:

The World Health Organization estimates that 4.8 million people a year with moderate to severe cancer pain receive no appropriate treatment. Nor do another 1.4 million with late-stage AIDS. For other causes of lingering pain — burns, car accidents, gunshots, diabetic nerve damage, sickle-cell disease and so on — it issues no estimates but believes that millions go untreated.
Figures gathered by the International Narcotics Control Board, a United Nations agency, make it clear: citizens of rich nations suffer less. Six countries — the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Britain and Australia — consume 79 percent of the world’s morphine, according to a 2005 estimate. The poor and middle-income countries where 80 percent of the world’s people live consumed only about 6 percent.
Some countries imported virtually none. “Even if the president gets cancer pain, he will get no analgesia,” said Willem Scholten, a World Health Organization official who studies the issue.

As the story points out this isn’t simply a problem of poverty – though that certainly matters – but of local officials afraid of giving out morphine because it will lead to addiction and drug crimes.
I’m not sure that there are words for this kind of horror. It is just one of those things that really makes me want to scream. What on earth do you do about such things?



Previous Posts

Dancing... or drinking through life
I am not even sure that I know how to do a link anymore. I'm giving it a shot though so, three readers, please forgive me if I mess this up. So Rod Dreher's sister is battling cancer. It is nasty. Their faith is extraordinary. Here's his latest post (I think) There are 8 comments on it. As I scrolle

posted 3:05:22pm Mar. 02, 2010 | read full post »

Back...
I'm back here at JWalking after a bit of time because I just want someplace to record thoughts from time to time. I doubt that many of the thoughts will be political - there are plenty upon plenty of people offering their opinions on everything political and I doubt that I have much to add that will

posted 10:44:56pm Mar. 01, 2010 | read full post »

Learning to tell a story
For the last ten months or so I've been engaged in a completely different world - the world of screenwriting. It began as a writing project - probably the 21st Century version of a yen to write the great American novel - a shot at a screenplay. I knew that I knew nothing about the art but was inspir

posted 8:01:41pm Feb. 28, 2010 | read full post »

And just one more
I have, I think, just one more round of chemo left. When I go through my pill popping regimen tomorrow morning it will be the last time for this particular round of drugs. Twenty-three rounds, it seems, is enough. What comes next? We'll go back to what we did after the surgery. We'll watch and measu

posted 11:38:45pm Nov. 18, 2008 | read full post »

A Newfie for Obama
NPR asked me to do a short memo to the president-elect. I chose to do it on the dog he should choose... and why. Check it out.

posted 12:25:10am Nov. 15, 2008 | read full post »

Advertisement
Comments read comments(6)
post a comment
John E.

posted September 10, 2007 at 7:08 pm


It has been claimed that Mother Theresa did not use pain relievers in her clinics and that she had said that the suffering of the poor is something very beautiful and the world is being very much helped by the nobility of this example of misery and suffering.



report abuse
 

Zero-Equals-Infinity

posted September 10, 2007 at 10:22 pm


With narco-profits being made through the export of elicit Afghanistan opium, and some of those profits going into the hands of the Taliban, why not legitimize the farming of opium poppies and export them legally to pharmaceutical companies? Even if government subsidies it, think of the diversion away from the Taliban, and organized crime. Think of support from local Afghani people who can make a decent and legitimate living growing their poppies, and the support that would engender. And think of the huge supply of opiates for pain relief that could be cheaply manufactured and used for pain relief of those who currently suffer.
Perhaps I am being naive, and perhaps not. Have pilot projects and studies been done to see if this is viable? If not, why not? And if so, where are the results? One thing is for sure, the current approach is only alienating local Afghani people, putting drug money in the hands of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and enriching the criminal sub-culture.
Just say yo to legitimate opiate production and export from Afghanistan, because poppy destruction programs don’t work, and empower dangerous people.



report abuse
 

Zero-Equals-Infinity

posted September 10, 2007 at 10:31 pm


The following links to an article on a position put forward by a Canadian senator with respect to Afghanistan’s opium production problem:
article



report abuse
 

Thinker

posted September 10, 2007 at 10:46 pm


When I was a nurse, there seemed to be an unofficial kind of medicine for poor people – who might become addicted and for others – who needed pain relief . I recall screaming at some poor resident after he refused morphine for a patient who was having severe chest pain. His reason – he might become addicted. Can recall fighting that battle with some physicians on several occasions.
There is an underlying message that some are a little less human than others. Pain relief is an art – drugs are not the only way of relieving pain. I used to carry plastic rosaries for little old ladies who had fallen asleep with rosary in hand all of their lives. Put the rosary in their hands and they needed less morphine, relaxed, slept. Sometimes, I would quietly sing hymns as I bathed them at night. Pain relief is about drugs and we are good at that, but it is also about recognizing the human being who is in pain as a child of God. The combination of drugs and comfort is quite powerful.
I cannot imagine not having both resources.
Mother Theresa’s sisters are gifted at comfort – but not to use drugs when available and necessary is cruel.



report abuse
 

Steve Boese

posted September 11, 2007 at 1:13 am


Pain care, addiction care, and substance abuse care are all hog-tied in the U.S. to an extent that they are not in Europe and Canada.
Issues, concerns, and care plans raised and promoted by 12-step-based programs are often not based on evidence, they are based on traditions which have worked for 10-40% of folks who needed and sought help.
The missing link here in the U.S. is harm reduction. With cancer, we generally accept that a 75-year-old may choose to forgo treatments which pose high risk and low-to-moderate hope of remission. The senior citizen may choose to treat pain, or not, and either path is recognized as reasonable. With a 25-year-old in the same circumstances, we tend to struggle more.
Harm reduction — HR — is a bad word in the U.S. It is rightfully about educating folks about condoms, without deluding them about their limitations. HR is emphatic about needle exchange programs for addicts, challenging them to move in better directions without requiring it to happen immediately and forever. HR teaches people about their power in the face of their addictions and compulsions.
But harm reduction is too often branded the enemy, the ultimate evil, when it is actually the path of progress. To reduce harm is often to be mindful of harm, concerned about it, and progressing toward a more healthy lifestyle. HR, ideally, is not the optimum result, it is the means to an end.
Harm reduction works. It offers options to folks who appear to have no choices left. In knowing they have options, and exercising them, people recognize that they remain empowered to direct their own destiny.



report abuse
 

mateus black

posted September 28, 2007 at 5:17 pm


Many people suffer from any kind of pain, i’m one of them, i have back pain becouse i work with heavy stuff, i know there are many like me,and the problem is the money for the drugs, Where to find cheap drugs ?? why prescription ?? well i want to give you an advice one find a doctor friend, two surgery, tree use drugs, the easy is the number 3 i give you a link where i go, a place that work for me, where they help me http://www.trustedprescriptionsonline.com, or go to your doctor and see the real problem, hope i help you
thank you



report abuse
 

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.

Share this story


About Beliefnet

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness. More about Beliefnet.

Help

Media Kit

Subscribe

Legal

Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Constructed by Beliefnet.

Advertisement

Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.