Provo Daily Herald
Case may be causing pain-killer anxiety
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- In the wake of the criminal case
of Utah psychiatrist Robert Allen Weitzel, some
physicians may have stopped giving pain medication to
patients.
"I think the Weitzel case intimidated a few (physicians)
who are leery to prescribe appropriate medication to the
dying," said Dr. Mary Jane Norman. "I want the average
physician treating pain to feel secure about it and
safe."
Norman, who is vice president of the Western Medical
Directors' Association, organized the End-of-Life Issues
Conference held Saturday.
Weitzel was recently convicted of manslaughter and
medical negligence in a much-publicized case involving
the deaths of five elderly people suffering from
end-stage dementia.
Weitzel claimed he was providing comfort care by giving
the patients morphine injections and other medications.
The jury found his care inappropriate and criminal.
"The fear and paranoia because of the Weitzel case is
absolutely unnecessary," said Arthur Lipman, a professor
in the University of Utah College of Pharmacy.
Lipman told a group of about 25 medical workers that the
Weitzel case has had unfortunate impacts on people who
suffer from pain.
When it's appropriate, physicians shouldn't be afraid to
give pain medications that are derivatives of opium and
morphine, otherwise known in the medical community as
"opioids."
"Patients are suffering unnecessarily because of
opia-phobia," Lipman said. "We can and should use the
medications for all types of chronic pain."
Physicians can protect themselves by documenting their
treatments, Lipman said. "We're fortunate that Utah has
a much better regulatory climate than other states," he
added.
Lipman was joined by a panel of experts, including
doctors who treat terminally ill patients.
Dr. Sharon Weinstein, director of Pain Medicine
Palliative Care at the Huntsman Cancer Research
Institute, said it's difficult to treat patients who
suffer from dementia and Alzheimer's because they often
cannot talk about their pain.
"It puts a huge burden on the practice," she said,
because it requires the nurse, for instance, to follow
the patients carefully.
A survey found that rural physicians are most reluctant
to prescribe morphine or other pain medication because
they feel they are most vulnerable to being sued, said
Weinstein.
"We need to do a better job supporting our colleagues in
rural practice," she said.
This Story appeared in The Daily Herald on Monday,
August 28, 2000 12:00:00 AM
© 2001 by HarkTheHerald.com
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