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| Science & Technology |
| The Doctor Wasn't Cruel Enough |
| 2006-06-06 |
| When Dr. Paul Heberle was arrested last April, dozens of chronic pain patients were left in agony. One of Heberle's patients called no fewer than 37 doctors seeking care—all of whom refused to see him once he revealed the name of his prior provider. Finally, Robert Holmes, a 40-year-old man who suffers from a lung injury and requires supplemental oxygen to breathe, resorted to visiting a methadone clinic for drug addicts. He was turned away there, too. More than twenty others reported similar experiences at a meeting of patients affected by the arrest. Six would later attempt suicide. For many patients, the situation was devastatingly familiar. Heberle had agreed to care for many of them after their previous physician was arrested and then convicted on some of the same charges that Heberle now faced: illegal prescribing of narcotics. That doctor, David Klees, got 12 to 24 years in prison. This time, however, the government would find it wasn't so easy to railroad a pain doctor. In the last five years—since a media panic over prescription drug abuse began with law-enforcement-driven reports of an "Oxycontin epidemic"—dozens of doctors have been prosecuted for "overprescribing" painkillers. The Justice Department and the DEA have pushed this aggressive new campaign in the war on drugs. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #10 I had frequent, intractable headaches of unknown origin for decades. Variously diagnosed as "sinus" "migrane" and "cluster," they went totally away after I had a VP shunt put in my head after a rather severe stroke and resultant coma. The shunt went in to reduce my intracranial pressure to normal. That was 3 years and NO HEADACHES ago. Now I walk a little funny (and get tired) due to the lingering effects of the stroke but I have zero headaches. Ziltch. Nada. It was the most incredable feeling to be headache free after decades with them. I don't reccommend the stroke but having normal ICP reduced my headaches to zero. |
| Posted by: Unolump Grese7486 2006-06-06 19:14 |
| #9 have her eat chocolate macaroons for the diverticulitis. It does work. Do a search on it. |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2006-06-06 17:41 |
| #8 mom: Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, my wife's pains are caused by frequent, intractable headaches of unknown origin (not true migraines) and GI endometrial implants (cleaned out several times), kidney stones (non-operable), and diverticulosis/diverticulitis or some combination of all of the above. Fibromyalgia and CA are some of the few things that have been ruled out. |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2006-06-06 16:13 |
| #7 Sorry, SPOD; you're wrong about the importance of the DEA. Our community has hellacious alcohol and prescription drug abuse problems at the high school, and poor man's drugs in our lunch-pail, used car neighborhood that has 20% County Housing. The case mentioned in this article has nothing to do with my little neighbor whose brother has gone to jail several times for dealing. There are three moms in this neighborhood who are trying to look out for this little girl. THe article here speaks of one particular class of Govt. bureaucracy gone amok. We still need the agents who keep poison out of kids' hands. |
| Posted by: mom 2006-06-06 15:11 |
| #6 This is a prime reason the small ell Libertarian are right. The government should not be in the business of "drug enforcement". I would say people have a right to a pain free (real cronic pain) life. These pain killers are not the only under prescribed drugs eitehr. The Government doesn't belong between you and your Dr's care. Shut the DEA down and transfer them all to the Border Patrol. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2006-06-06 15:02 |
| #5 For patients with terminal illness, Hospice has made dramatic improvements in quality of life. My mother passed away last October after years of breast cancer metastasized to the bone. Hospice made her last two years comfortable and a blessing. I know, that's an unusually long time to be on hospice's case load; Mother had an 8 month period of slow cancer growth that she used to make her peace with Christ and everybody else. |
| Posted by: mom 2006-06-06 14:54 |
| #4 xbalanke: Is your wife's chronic pain due to Fibromyalgia? I recommend Dr. Nancy Selfridge's book, "Freedom from Fibromyalgia." Pain used to flatten me for half a day every day; I now manage on naproxen and exercise. |
| Posted by: mom 2006-06-06 14:51 |
| #3 Reverse side of the story. The husband of my ex's good friend became addicted to painkillers and he managed to get prescriptions from three or four different doctors to keep himself supplied. He's dead now. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-06-06 14:20 |
| #2 My wife has chronic pain (to the point of debilitating) and still not fully diagnosed. Her headache specialist told her flat-out that he will no longer prescribe any pain meds stronger that ibuprofen. She's getting similar reluctance from other doctors for severe abdominal pain. And it's not like she was an addict, either. Now, she spends most of her time sitting or lying down to try to minimize the worst pain triggers, while very little gets done around the house. I loathe the DEA and the spineless politicians who let them get away with this BS. /rant off |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2006-06-06 12:51 |
| #1 It's sad to think that this kind of thing still goes on. I remember when my dad was terminal and needed opiates to deal with the pain. One of his doctors was reluctant to give him morphine because he might get "addicted". (Keep in mind that he had only weeks to live according to this medical genius.) Good for Dr Heberle and Dr Fisher that they won against the DEA. I hope their patients find another doctor who doesn't suffer from rectal cranial insertion and gets them the medical help they need. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-06-06 10:44 |