The last time I was in the ICU, I was giving one of our fallen their final salute (photo edited for this reason). The cat will come out of the bag soon, so the kitty may as well say it. After seeing what “help” looks like, I decided Mother’s Day was my day to die. I called in my last call to dispatch and even though I know most of my EMS “family” doesn’t care two straws about me, I meant it when I said it was an honor and a privilege to serve with all of you. Unfortunately, I didn’t die fast enough, so now I’m back in the ICU as a patient. I tried very hard to get the medical and emotional help I needed, and unfortunately, what I need just is not in the cards.
Does the above describe PATIENT ABUSE or PATIENT TORTURE? Have some pt’s health issues become so complex, so costly, so time-consuming that our system will just start to ignore their request for receiving some care, just some attempt to relieve their pain? I recently heard about a practitioner who stated that they would not prescribe pain meds to any pt until it was determined what was causing the pt’s pain.
Unless a pt has a broken bone protruding out of their skin, it can often take some time to determine what health issue(s) the pt is dealing with, should it be appropriate that a pt suffer while a diagnosis is made. Which sometimes can take days or longer to come to a firm diagnosis?
Filed under: General Problems
I am going with torture! I personally suffered from a revision of a right hip surgery-which turned into a THR. For one year prior to surgery, I suffered SEVERE muscle spasms in my right thigh ( daily) & my PM clinic would NOT change my pain meds to give me relief. All they offered was Toradol-which did absolutely NOTHING for my pain.
So, when I was recovering from surgery ( October 2024), again-my PM facility said to my Surgeon-just to give me only a slight increase in my oral Oxycodone-I SUFFERED immensely! There is NO excuse for ANY of this to happen. My God-I was cut open, had nails, metal, & screws inserted in my pelvis and femur bone-I screamed in pain -the Nurses IGNORED me! We have got to DO bETTER as a Society-and as a Nation! I am a retired RN ( I had to retire early, due to my own hip issues). The mindset of treating pain post-op has CHANGED, and not for the better! Kathleen Clark,RN ( retired).
Personally, I tend to use ABUSE… because that is what the media normally uses. When some law firm sues a nursing home.. they normally don’t sue for pt TORTURE… they tend to sue for pt ABUSE. It is like when opioid deaths started piling up.. the media started talking about a opioid EPIDEMIC. Epidemics you are dealing with something contagious. There is nothing contagious about our fabricate opioid crisis.
I never did – in all my posting – talk about a opioid epidemic… I always talked about a opioid crisis.
I am sure when a nursing home has some staff that are not working with a full deck, could cross over from abuse to torturing a pt. Neglecting a pt, tends to be more abuse than torture.
again,,i firmly believe the reason kolodny,blocked any law against torture in the healthcare setting for 14 years and ONLY his state,,is because he fears folks who call it what it is and he KNEW what he was about to do,,Never before have we had 6 million medically ill people being denied effective physical pain relief,because prior to 1998, there was no pain management per sae,,times are changing,and if a law against torture in the healthcarsetting was in place,,for ALLL doctors to use,,ie,,i will not torture my medically sick patient” and the dea could not touch em,,none of this would of happen’d along w.of course the violation of law cfr 42-1395,,BAD psychiatrists have gotten away w./torture behind there close door asylums for years,,,once the doors were open by the gov,,,all psychiatric asylums were closed,,for,,’your abuse per’sea,,who said abuse can’t also mean torture ,,for they are 1 in the same,,but again,,, We never had 6 million folks being denied EFFECTIVE individualized paincare,and 4,000 docs sitten in prison for being humane,,,Kolodny group think psychiatrists using torture as a commodity,,,is always wrong,,Imprisoning 4,000 doctors for being humane is always wrong,,whilst the torturer kill-odyn groupies are the heros,,and he dances on all our graves,,Torturing the weakest amongst us,,under the color of law,or $$$$
should always be the wrong way to go for a humane humanity,,,,mw
pss to your point of a diagnoses,,knowing my medical history,,sometimes diagnoses come years latter,which is why pain as a 5th vital sign worked,,however,,if the proper testing was done .or available it would not of been that way,thus,why ,no-one should be denied effective PHYSICAL pain care until ALLLL MEDICAL testing is completed,,3 years ago,i discoverd a test call a MRA,, not mri,, MRA,,, lymes testing has advanced,,Dr,Tennent has testing to prove your body is in physical distress,Acute cases are more obvious broken bones,certain ,bacterias etc,,but again,,no-one should be denied effective physical pain care until ALLLL MEDICAL TESTING IS COMPLETE,, therefore if it not complted,,they don’t get denied physical pain care,Nor should any psych diagnose ever be used for physical pain until alll diagnostic testing is complete,,mw
The forced infliction on treatable physical pain by the willful denial of EFFECTIVE INDIVIDUALIZED physical pain relief,is torture by definition, it is forcing another humanbeing to endure treatable physical pain,caused by a medical conditin of no choosing,,,Unless vital signs are negatively effective,,by the amount of opiates,,but usually thee opposite happens,,all vital return to normal when the physical pain is effectively treated at individualized levels,,,,There is the 1 elephant in the room that everyone ignores,,FACT,TRUTH,, it is literally impossible,to physically feel the physical pain of another,,it is literally a impossibilty,,thus,why would anyone think they have the right to decide, other then the patient,,,”how much,”??Why is it I fully understand i have no right,ever, torturte any living entity,,to willfully thru denial of EFFECTIVE physical pain relief,thru a medicine called opiates,,thus to FORCE another living soul to forcible endure treatable physical pain,thru that denial of effective pain relief,,Why is I know i have no right to torture another living entity,,but others do not???????A survey done by a doctor on twitter showed 97.6%%% believe it is torture to willfully deny effectve individualize physical pain relief via state laws/guidfeimes etc,,they other 2.4 %%,,said to harsh of a word,,,but forced infliction of treatable physical pain,,is torture,,soo it all depends if you are the one being torture ,or the one who can say yes or no to opiate medicine and how much..Curious again,,fact is proven,,it is literally impossible to physically feel the physical pain of another,thus,it proves,ACTUALLY physically feeling that FORCED physical pain makes a different in your decision making,,and why,,no-one but the patient should decide ,how much,’ works for their bodies,,otherwise,,they are FORCED to endure,,treatable physical pain,,ie,,tortured,It correlated w/what practical pain management,,stated,,those who deny effective pain care,,in the same breath won’t call it what it is,cruel,torture ,thus inhumane care,,,maryw
Since this issue is highly political… The more meetings for people to come together as a group and write to our legislators and especially the president. It is the president who hires the DEA.
I have a neighbor/friend whom I have shared my research and writings with for years. Recently, she suffered a severe injury to her arm (shattered the ends of her femur and radius) which required emergency and surgical treatments. She wailed to me for days about how the ER refused to treat her pain. She was surprised, as if all the things I’d been telling her about the inability to get pain care would never apply to her.
It’s urgent that we get the public to understand that every American is currently one injury or illness away from suffering severe chronic pain that could be treated but will go untreated. Everybody seems to think that a visit to the ER will include the kind of pain treatment they received years ago.
Perhaps the prospect is so horrible that it just doesn’t register in people’s minds.
Without a doubt, torture.
I am going with torture
Yes.
Abuse is rampant. I have had multiple patients who require higher doses of opiates, held in hospital in agony, conclude that it’s safer for them and healthier for them to be at home. Several times I have filed complaints with adult protective services on these hostage patients.