"It's
the
Pain,
Stupid":
Kevorkian,
Pain,
and
the
DEA
4/10/98
A March 16 Boston Globe article reported that Bill Connaughton of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, known as "BostonBill" in the online chat rooms that he organized for people with fibromyalgia, became the 98th client of Dr. Kevorkian. BostonBill was active to the end, providing advice, encouragement and support to his fellow patients through the net. Hence, his sudden end was a shock to the online patient community. The Globe article, which can be accessed by visiting http://www.boston.com and going to keyword "BostonBill", discussed and quoted extensively from the ensuing online debate over physician-assisted suicide (though in a letter distributed posthumously, BostonBill explained that he considered it to be submitting to euthanasia, rather than suicide, considered a sin in his religion, Catholicism. A side of the issue not discussed, however, was the reason so many chronic pain patients consider the suicide option: undertreatment of pain. In a post on the Usenet titled "It's the Pain, Stupid", an individual, perhaps another patient, wrote: "I just feel I need to shout out how sad it is that a fibromyalgia patient has to resort to Dr. Kevorkian for relief from his pain. If we didn't have so many doctors scared to prescribe the medicine necessary to relieve the pain, BostonBill would still be alive today, helping others in need and advancing the cause to find a cure for this DD. I think it is just about criminal to let patients suffer when there are meds available." In 1996 DRCNet reported on the case of Dr. William Hurwitz, a Virginia physician whose license was revoked for pain treatment practices that were lauded by experts but considered controversial by the state's Board of Medicine (see http://www.drcnet.org/guide10-96/pain.html to read about the incident and the harassment suffered by some of his former patients at the hands of DEA agents). Hurwitz followed the principle that the appropriate dose of medication for a pain patient is the dose that relieves the patient's pain. In a dramatic turnaround last year, the board, with many of the same members, restored Hurwitz's license to practice medicine and prescribe controlled substances, and voiced their approval of Hurwitz's general method of pain control. Hurwitz is still not back in business, however, as the DEA has continued to withhold his federal controlled substances license, leading some pain patient advocates to conclude that the DEA is the enemy in the fight for pain relief. Skip Baker, President of the American Society for Action on Pain (ASAP), commented, "that pain could have been controlled if Dr. Hurwitz was permitted by the DEA to do his life saving work the DEA is now blocking... It's not a matter of physician assisted suicide, it's a matter of no pain control in America making physician assisted suicide necessary!" ASAP is a patient support network advocating for adequate use of opioids (narcotics) in pain treatment. Check them out at http://www.actiononpain.org and read about ASAP's March on Washington this June.
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