NoPunIn10DidDec 3, 2022
Taylor Lorenz
“What the DEA is essentially doing is telling a diabetic who's been on insulin for 20 years that they no longer need insulin and they should be cured. They just don't understand what chronic pain is.” https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxnyb9/dea-fentanyl-doctor-patient-suicide
This Couple Died by Suicide After the DEA Shut Down Their Pain Doctor

“There are millions of chronic pain patients suffering just like me," Danny Elliott wrote before ending his life. "Nobody cares."

Nov 30, 2022 at 7:38pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadSteve VladNov 30, 2022
@taylorlorenz
Infuriating.
Show threadJohanna Beatty 🦣Nov 30, 2022
@taylorlorenz
Oh my, this is utterly heartbreaking.
Show threadRainbowBodyNov 30, 2022

@taylorlorenz

They have forgotten how acute pain leads to chronic as well. I had ankle surgery about 3 weeks ago and was only given one week of oxycodone.

The fracture was a week before surgery, so I have been in significant/severe pain for a month. This is how you get bad outcomes. It is a bizarre panic.

Show threadRainbowBodyNov 30, 2022

@taylorlorenz

FTR the new guidelines are no more than 1 week. Pain maxes out 3-5 days post surgery and if you think Tylenol 2 days later is going to treat screws in your bone, you're delusional. Bodies need rest and sleep to heal. You can't sleep in pain.

Show threadMissBossHoneyNov 30, 2022
@taylorlorenz ugh, how infuriating!!
Show threadHeyJoeNov 30, 2022
@taylorlorenz
The DEA has done so much harm.
Show threadGene HellerNov 30, 2022
@taylorlorenz Thanks for passing this along. The analogy between painkillers for treating chronic pain and insulin for treating diabetes is accurate.
Show threadSober StevieDec 1, 2022
@taylorlorenz psh. That article is most likely an oversimplification of truth and fact. If you worked in healthcare or drug enforcement, you would probably be able to able to better discern.
Show threadSober StevieDec 1, 2022
@taylorlorenz if they shut down their pain doctor, they probably had sufficient evidence or cause. Sounds like the pain prescriber was in violation of his ethics or the law, probably not in relation to this couple at all. It is sad that this couple chose to end their lives. But let us not knee-jerk blame the DEA because for all you and your lack of knowledge knows, this doctor was killing other patients or non-patients through illegal or unethical practices. The DEA doesnt pull presciption authority at its leisure. You would know that too if you actually knew what you were talking about. FFS
Show threadSober StevieDec 1, 2022

@taylorlorenz DEA has something on him and he is probably lucky that the DEA doesnt report their work through publications like Vice news. People are so fn gullible to just blindly jump at a catchy, tragic news headline. There are vets, pediatricians, pharmacist, oncologists, and others out there legitimately prescribing controlled substances to some while illegally and unethically trafficking narcotics to people who are not under their care, should not have them, or even to street drug rings. Two things can be true at one time. A sensationalized, tragic headline does not mean there were not legit reasons to pull his prescription authority.

I am a nurse, a recovering addict and have intimate knowledge of DEA agents' work... and my mother, also a nurse who didn't have cancer, died because a doctor she worked with prescribed her opiates and benzos without ever having a provider/patient relationship with her. He was simultaneously writing pain meds for cancer patients legitimately. Guess what? She is dead because of him and he lost his license because of it. And he should have!

Show threadSober StevieDec 1, 2022
@taylorlorenz it is sad they chose to die but for all anyone knows the DEA kept others from dying without their consent. That is the real news story, I would bet
Show threadSober StevieDec 1, 2022
@taylorlorenz this article is so short-sighted, so sensationalized, so manipulative and so aimed at villifying the DEA. Its preying on the suicides of two people just paint the DEA in bad light without any investigation as to what this "doctor" was up to that he lost his prescription authority. I would think any rationale minded person reading that would be alarmed by many missing elements of this "news article" to ask such internal questions as "wait, what did this doctor prohibited from prescribing in the first place?"; "Was this doctor endangering lives in other areas?"; "Why couldnt this couple get their pain meda from another doctor who didnt lose their prescription authority to the DEA?" And would instead just act like a lemming and repost a "news" report, aka Vice "News" article as if it is investigative or public serving in the least. It is trash and it is click bait.
Show threadSober StevieDec 1, 2022

@taylorlorenz a rational response to having a prescriber lose their ability to prescribe me pain killers for cancer bc of some investigation by the DEA into said prescriber would not be to commit suicide because that provider could no longer prescribe pain meds. It would be to go to a provider not under investigation by the DEA and wonder, "WTF was my old provider doing????"

The whole story seems farcical.

Show threadTy RossDec 1, 2022
@taylorlorenz Heartbreaking