• Why Can't I Get Help Managing My Pain? Patient Denied Opioids Due To Being a Sexual Abuse Victim!

    Watch Claudia interview Bev Schechtman about her experience in the hospital when she was denied pain medication for kidney stones due to being a victim of sexual abuse.  

    "Everything is looked at as drug-seeking.  No matter we do, they think we're drug-seeking." ~ Bev Schechtman

  • Against the Pain: The Opioid Crisis and Medication Access (NPR show 1A)

    NPR's show, 1A, had our VP, Bev Schechtman on a panel on November 11, 2021. The name of the segment is "Against The Pain: The Opioid Crisis and Medication Access." NPR became interested in the show after reading Maia Szalavitz's article about NarxCare in Wired.  Listen to the recording of the show.  You don't want to miss this!  

    "We have these people who have been on these meds for 20-30 years and doctors are under extraordinary pressure to get their numbers down" ~Maia

    "In a criminalized environment where doctors are not only afraid of losing their license, but of going to prison, and where patients are being squeezed because they're being told 'you can only have x amount because otherwise my numbers are too high,' you end up with a lot of untreated pain." ~Maia

    "I'd like to see context added (to these algorithms), if someone moves 3 times in 2 years, it needs to not look like they're 'doctor shopping,' I'd like to see a return to individualized care and stop these arbitrary guidelines where people are having a hard stop on what they can and can't have and they're not looking at what's actually going on with the patient." ~Bev

    "I was treated like a criminal; I was mocked, laughed at, scolded, I was embarrassed...I felt revictimized." ~Bev

    "There are tremendous gender and racial bias in these algorithms and in this false narrative." ~Bev

    "No one should ever be denied care, that's just cruel and unusual punishment." ~Dr. Dombrowski

    "Electronic Health Records are just a billing system, not to make patient care better...if you hit something by accident like malingering, next thing you know it's in the chart permanently. It's dangerous." ~Dr. Dombrowski

    Dr. Mark Ibsen, who is a fierce advocate for the CPP community, recorded the show with running commentary.  

  • Dr. Carl Hart's Opinion on the Untreated Pain Crisis - Episode 15

    Episode 15 - 12/9/22

    Link to Episode

    Claudia and Bev interview Dr. Carl Hart. We discuss how pain patients are being harmed by horrible drug policy. Dr. Hart discusses his view of anti-opioid zealots like Dr. Andrew Kolodny and offers to use his platform to help us fight for pain patients.
     I took this bio from his website,drcarlhart.com

    "Carl Hart is the Chair of the Department of Psychology at Columbia University. He is also the Ziff Professor of Psychology in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry. Professor Hart has published numerous scientific and popular articles in the area of neuropsychopharmacology and is co-author of the textbook Drugs, Society and Human Behavior (with Charles Ksir). His most recent book, “High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society,” was the 2014 winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Professor Hart has appeared on multiple podcasts, radio and television shows including Real Time with Bill Maher and The O’Reilly Factor. He has also appeared in several documentary films including the award-winning “The House I Live In.” His essays have been published in several popular publications including The New York Times, Scientific American, The Nation, Ebony, The Root, and O Globo (Brazil’s leading newspaper)."

    Here isa link to our survey for pain patients who have lost their pain doctor or are being force tapered.

    Disclaimer: The information provided to you in this podcast is not to be considered medical or legal advice.
  • Dr. Jay Joshi Interviews Claudia Merandi

    Listen to this informative and riveting interview.

    Learn all about the anti-opioid zealots and how their lies have caused suffering and deaths.

    "Americans have been bamboozled into believing that prescription opioids are causing the opioid epidemic." ~Claudia Merandi

  • NPR show 1A with Bev Schechtman and Maia Szalavitz discussing NarxCare and how it affects pain treatment

    NPR's show, 1A, had our VP, Bev Schechtman on a panel on November 11, 2021. The name of the segment is "Against The Pain: The Opioid Crisis and Medication Access." NPR became interested in the show after reading Maia Szalavitz's article about NarxCare in Wired.  Listen to the recording of the show.  You don't want to miss this!  

    "We have these people who have been on these meds for 20-30 years and doctors are under extraordinary pressure to get their numbers down" ~Maia

    "In a criminalized environment where doctors are not only afraid of losing their license, but of going to prison, and where patients are being squeezed because they're being told 'you can only have x amount because otherwise my numbers are too high,' you end up with a lot of untreated pain." ~Maia

    "I'd like to see context added (to these algorithms), if someone moves 3 times in 2 years, it needs to not look like they're 'doctor shopping,' I'd like to see a return to individualized care and stop these arbitrary guidelines where people are having a hard stop on what they can and can't have and they're not looking at what's actually going on with the patient." ~Bev

    "I was treated like a criminal; I was mocked, laughed at, scolded, I was embarrassed...I felt revictimized." ~Bev

    "There are tremendous gender and racial bias in these algorithms and in this false narrative." ~Bev

    "No one should ever be denied care, that's just cruel and unusual punishment." ~Dr. Dombrowski

    "Electronic Health Records are just a billing system, not to make patient care better...if you hit something by accident like malingering, next thing you know it's in the chart permanently. It's dangerous." ~Dr. Dombrowski

    Dr. Mark Ibsen, who is a fierce advocate for the CPP community, recorded the show with running commentary.  

  • The Pain Was Unbearable. So Why Did Doctors Turn Her Away? NarxCare is the reason.

    When our VP, Bev Schechtman, was denied adequate pain medication when hospitalized for kidney stones due to having been a victim of sexual abuse, she became obsessed with researching how this could happen. She learned about NarxCare and the Opioid Risk Tool. We, at The Doctor Patient Forum/Don't Punish Pain, have been researching these topics for the past four years. We've reached out to countless investigative journalists only to be shot down. Thankfully, Maia Szalavitz, an author and leader in harm reduction, was interested in telling the story of NarxCare and other risk tools. This was our first piece of national media, and we are so excited to share it with you. We suggest holding on to this article and sharing it with your local legislators.  About half of the states use NarxCare, and this article can help you fight against it. Read about how our country has tried to help the "opioid crisis" by using a risk score algorithm, yet it seems they're only making matters worse.

     

  • Where's the Patient's Voice in Evidence-based Treatment & Research? Pharmacy Podcast Network

    "Where's the Patient's Voice in Evidence-based Treatment & Research?"

    Our VP, Bev Schechtman, was a guest on Pharmacy Podcast Network.

    Pharmacy podcast 2

    Part 4 in the series "Pharmacist and Physician Opioid Collaborative" on Pharmacy Podcast Network.

    Listen as Todd Eury, from Pharmacy Podcast Network, asks Bev a question that is long overdo..."What is the patient's perspective?"

    "No one ever asks the patient what we think, we are kind of shoved out of it." ~Bev Schechtman

    "But what they're missing, Bev, is they're missing the empathetic bedside manner to look you in the eye and give you a sincere little smile, showing they're there for me as a patient." ~Todd Eury

    "We feel like everyone around us is going to treat us as though everything we say is a lie, that we're going to try to get out of whatever it is they think they're trying to catch us in, and we can't trust any of them." ~Bev Schechtman

    "The way they set up the system patients can't be honest with our providers." ~Bev Schechtman 

The Doctor Patient Forum

Claudia A. Merandi 5 Chedell Ave, E Providence, RI 029141.401.523.0426

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