The Painful Truth

Author of The Painful Truth

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Google+Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on LinkedInFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on YouTube
  • Home
  • About
  • Book
  • News
  • Documentary
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Media Room
  • Contact
 RSS

Subscribe to the blog

Poll

What is the greatest priority for changing the way we treat addiction?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Recent Posts

  • Treating Babies with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
  • Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs
  • Marijuana and Pain
  • Virtual Reality Therapy for People in Chronic Pain
  • Breaking Bad 2018
  • Response to People in Pain
  • Everything Isn’t as Perfect as It Seems in Ireland
  • Yes, Restrictions on Opioids Are a Threat to Human Rights
  • David C. Holzman Shatters Addiction Myths
  • Opioid Lawsuits Threaten Lives of Pain Sufferers
  • Utah Opioid Crisis Summit
  • Repeating the Mistakes of the Past
  • Prescription Drug Advertisements
  • Family of Pain
  • The ACPA Presents Programs for Migraine Sufferers

Recent Comments

  • Kenneth R. McClelland on Why Keep a Pain Journal
  • Jim Gibson on Marijuana and Pain
  • John D. Waldron on Breaking Bad 2018
  • Deborah Scheers on Suicide and Chronic Pain
  • Shonya on Response to People in Pain

Archives

  • June 2018 (5)
  • May 2018 (4)
  • April 2018 (4)
  • March 2018 (5)
  • February 2018 (4)
  • January 2018 (4)
  • December 2017 (5)
  • November 2017 (4)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (5)
  • August 2017 (4)
  • July 2017 (5)
  • June 2017 (4)
  • May 2017 (4)
  • April 2017 (5)
  • March 2017 (4)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (4)
  • December 2016 (5)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (6)
  • September 2016 (6)
  • August 2016 (7)
  • July 2016 (9)
  • June 2016 (8)
  • May 2016 (8)
  • April 2016 (7)
  • March 2016 (10)
  • February 2016 (12)
  • January 2016 (9)
  • December 2015 (6)
  • November 2015 (3)
  • October 2015 (3)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • August 2015 (4)
  • July 2015 (5)
  • June 2015 (5)
  • May 2015 (2)

Can Francis Collins Help Solve the Opioid Crisis?

Can Francis Collins Help Solve the Opioid Crisis? by Lynn R. Webster @LynnRWebsterMD

 

The problem of opioid addiction is more complex than lawmakers, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the media would have us believe.

Pressuring doctors who treat pain patients to prescribe fewer opioids may reduce the amount of opioids prescribed. While that doesn’t decrease the need for opioids, it may drive people who need pain medication to the streets to find relief.

Today, opioids are the only effective, affordable treatment for some chronic pain conditions. They certainly are an imperfect medication associated with significant risks for some patients. But they are the best tools doctors have for delivering compassionate treatment to many people with intractable pain.

Continue Reading...

Response to Stat News Article

Response to Stat News Article by Lynn R. Webster @LynnRWebsterMD

Open Letter to Stat News 

In Stat News, David Armstrong’s article on March 24, “TV documentary on pain treatment funded by doctor with industry ties,” misrepresented the purpose of the film, “The Painful Truth“; ignored several of my detailed answers to his questions; and unfairly criticized my professional associations.

Armstrong suggested that the TV documentary downplayed the role of pharma’s contribution to the opioid problem. It didn’t, nor did it advocate for the use of any drugs, including opioids, because that was not the purpose of the film. Rather, it focused on the lack of compassion and treatment for people in pain, and it shed light on the largest public health problem in America: chronic pain.

Continue Reading...

Because of Pharma, We Take Aspirin for Headaches Instead of Chewing Bark

Because of Pharma, We Take Aspirin by Lynn R. Webster @LynnRWebsterMD

A July 8, 2016 Baltimore Sun article was titled, “Painkiller panel drops experts linked to pharma industry.” This story described how Dr. Mary Lynn McPherson, who teaches in the School of Pharmacy and specializes in hospice and end-of-life care, was removed from an FDA medical advisory panel. Three other doctors were similarly dismissed from the advisory panel that was organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Continue Reading...

Solving the Opioid Crisis Won’t Be “Cheap, Quick, or Easy”

Solving the Opioid Crisis Won't Be "Cheap, Quick, or Easy" Lynn R Webster, MD, @lynnrwebstermd

“Last Week Tonight” is a late-night television show that satirizes the news. Therefore, you probably wouldn’t expect the show’s host, John Oliver, to make the news. Yet he did (see Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, Slate, and more) when he did a segment about the opioid crisis.

Using Humor to Discuss the Opioid Crisis

Oliver tackled a difficult topic. He used humor to discuss the controversy of opioids, addiction, and overdoses. Of course, Oliver is not a physician or a scientist, so fact-checkers might have expected to find errors in his broadcast. However, in my opinion, his content was largely accurate and, therefore, I believe that every American should see the video.

Continue Reading...

Preparing for an FDA Advisory Committee Meeting: What You Need to Know

Preparing for an FDA Advisory Committee Meeting: What You Need to Know , Lynn R Webster, @LynnRWebsterMD

Mark Twain is quoted as saying: “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”

What Is an FDA ADCOM?

Pharma and device companies seeking approval for their products are often required to present their data to an FDA advisory committee meeting (ADCOM). They have a limited time in which to tell their story. Therefore, Pharma must know how to “write the short letter.” This requires them to condense years of research into messages that can convey the most salient, and most pertinent, data to a jury of scientists.

Continue Reading...

This is the Reason Harvard Business Review Got Opioids Wrong

This is the Reason Harvard Business Review Got Opioids Wrong, Lynn R Webster, The Painful Truth

When a publication of Harvard Business Review’s caliber prints something, it stands as fact unless an authoritative voice corrects it. Therefore, I feel obligated to comment on Christopher Bowe’s recent HBR article, “Fixing Pharma’s Incentives Problem in the Wake of the U.S. Opioid Crisis.”

I’m disappointed in (although hardly surprised by) the misleading content of the HBR article. If we’re going to solve the opioid crisis, then we have to get our facts straight. So let’s begin.

Continue Reading...

When to Say No

Lynn R Webster, MD, The Painful Truth, chronic pain, lawmakers

An article called “7 Words That Could Have Biotech and Big Pharma Very Worried,” written by Sean Williams and recently posted on The Motley Fool, tells both sides of the story.

Pressure on price for pharmaceuticals is a real concern. Affordability is important. A drug can only work if patients can afford to pay for it.

So, on the one hand, the price of drugs must be kept in check.

Biotech and pharma can’t just raise the price of a lifesaving drug by 5,500% overnight. That isn’t reasonable, and that isn’t a good decision for anybody.

Continue Reading...

Shame on an Intolerant Firefighter

Lynn R Webster, MD, firefighter, pain, chronic pain

I was flabbergasted to read the comment made on Facebook by the firefighter in Weymouth, Massachuestts who said “we should just let heroin addicts die from overdose rather than give them the rescue antidote, naloxone.”

This would be like saying the obese diabetic should not be treated because they ate too much, or the disease of AIDS should not be treated because it was a self-inflected disease unworthy of treatment.

The stigma associated with addictions is almost as deadly as the disease itself because it is the reason for the firefighter’s intolerance. It’s also why we have punitive laws aimed at people who have a disease.

Continue Reading...

Is Pharma the Death Star? by @LynnRWebsterMD

Author’s Note: This blog contains references to “Star Wars,” but you will find no spoilers here.

vaderXlegoXpixabayX

In my world, a physician working with Pharma is perceived to be serving the Death Star. It doesn’t matter that thousands of drugs have been developed to save millions of lives, and have enabled millions more to live longer with fewer infirmaries. According to the critics, Pharma is totally evil, intent on destroying lives, and profiting from their destruction. This, they say, is especially true for the opioid manufacturers.

Continue Reading...

Copyright © 2021 Lynn R. Webster, M.D. | [email protected]