This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

William G. White, MD
Franklin Park, Ill

JAMA. 1996;275(17):1311.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Dr Hill¹ notes that efforts to ensure adequate treatment of pain have been less than completely successful. In this context, the practices of certain medical disciplinary and law enforcement bodies should be examined for the chilling effect they may have on physicians' prescribing of adequate pain relief. I personally know 3 physicians who have suffered respectively substantial legal expenses, loss of license, and imprisonment as a result of well-intended, although possibly imprudent, prescribing of narcotics to patients in pain.

At a time when illegal drugs are available on many street corners and in schools, it is ludicrous to devote law enforcement resources to tracking and prosecuting physicians whose occasionally injudicious prescribing of narcotics may comprise a minuscule portion of this nation's drug tragedy. This practice and the fear it produces among other physicians must surely be considered as a possible factor in the inadequate prescribing of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?