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Episode 20 - 3/21/23

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Listen to Claudia and Bev discuss how The Doctor Patient Forum began and where we go from here.

Some things DPF is working on:

  • Updated website
  • Video podcasts
  • Reaction videos to Dopesick

If DPF has ever helped you in any way, please consider ⁠donating⁠. Even $1 per month helps! We need funding to take the next step in effecting change.

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Episode 19 - Bonus Episode - 3/14/23

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Why is my doctor afraid to prescribe?  

Bev discusses a recent webinar by BJA TTAC - COSSAP - Bureau of Justice Assistance's Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program Resource Center. Link to their website and webinars

The Doctor Patient Forum's Podcast Episodes on:

Red Flags/Drug-Seeking Behavior

PDMP/NarxCare - Part 1

PDMP/NarxCare - Part 2

PDMP/NarxCare - Part 3

PDMP/NarxCare - Part 4

Patient Abandonment and Forced Taper Questionnaire

Disclaimer: The information that has been provided to you in this podcast is not to be considered legal or medical advice.

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 Episode 18 - 3/3/23

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Mark Scheeren and his colleague, Michelle Dunbar, developed the Freedom Model of Addiction. Listen as Claudia and Bev discuss this, agreeing on some things and disagreeing on others. It's always interesting to listen to different points of view. Both Mark and Michelle have struggled with addiction. 
  • Is addiction a brain disease?
  • Can someone recover?
  • Is medication always needed to stop using substances?
  • Do people with addiction have to stop using all substances for the rest of their lives?
  • Is the hijacked brain idea true? Who created it and why?
The Freedom Model research - The Baldwin Research Institute
The Freedom Model Website 
"Here are some really informative opiate/MAT-centered articles written by FM co-author and BRI Research Fellow, Steven Slate on his site www.thecleanslate.org"
https://www.thecleanslate.org/the-facts-buprenorphine-treatment-for-opioid-use-disorder-is-widespread/
https://www.thecleanslate.org/how-the-new-york-times-and-everyone-else-keeps-getting-one-major-fact-about-opioid-addiction-and-treatment-wrong/
Mark Scheeren's co-author and BRI Research Fellow, Steven Slate’s Ted Talk
You can contact Mark at info@thefreedommodel.org
Information on opioid MDL settlement dollars - $54 billion and counting
Disclaimer: The information that has been provided to you in this podcast is not to be considered legal or medical advice.

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Episode 17- 2/2/23

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"Jeffrey A. Singer is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and works in the Department of Health Policy Studies. He is President Emeritus and founder of Valley Surgical Clinics Ltd., the largest and oldest group private surgical practice in Arizona and has been in private practice as a general surgeon for more than 35 years.
He is also a visiting fellow at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix. Singer is a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the American Council on Science and Health. From 1994 to 2016, he was a regular contributor to Arizona Medicine, the journal of the Arizona Medical Association. He served on the Advisory Board Council of the Center for Political Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University from 2014 to 2018 and is an adjunct instructor in the Program on Political History and Leadership at ASU. He writes and speaks extensively on regional and national public policy, with a specific focus on the areas of health care policy and the harmful effects of drug prohibition.
He received his BA from Brooklyn College (City University of New York) and his MD from New York Medical College. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons."
Links to articles discussed in this podcast episode:
Nitazenes
Cops Practicing Medicine
Dr. Singer's Twitter 
Dr. Josh Bloom's article about the Dr. Singer vs. Dr. Fugh-Berman debate
Dr. Singer vs. Dr. Fugh-Berman debate
Dr. Singer and Dr. Bloom's article discussing pain and tylenol

Disclaimer: The information that has been provided to you in this podcast is not to be considered legal or medical advice.

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Episode 16- 1/5/23

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On November 7, 2022 chronic pain patient, Danny Elliot and his wife Gretchen, tragically took their lives after the DEA shut down Danny's doctor. Listen to our podcast from November 13, 2022 discussing Danny and Gretchen's suicides.

We interview Danny's brother, Jim Elliot. Jim talks about Danny's life, his accident that caused his severe intractable pain, and what Danny was like when he had adequate pain medication compared to when he didn't.
Here are Danny and Gretchen's obituaries.

Jim's comment to us and the chronic pain community: "I'd like to add  how appreciative our family is of the chronic pain patient community which was so supportive and helpful during Danny's struggle; after he lost his Georgia doctor, the others he saw were all referrals from friends he made through social media. He was articulate and knowledgeable and tried to help others even when he wasn't getting much help himself. As I said in our interview, all we want is for Danny and Gretchen's story to help others and to expose how apathetic the federal government is toward people in need. Thank you ladies for this opportunity."
This is the second suicide to to pain we've covered on our podcast. The first was Sonya Slone discussing the death of her husband, Brent.
Unfortunately, nobody is measuring patient outcome and the consequences of the crackdown on opioid prescribing. Nobody records what happens to the patients after a doctor is shut down by the DEA, or if a doctor retires. Danny's wife had contacted 17 doctors to try to find continuity of care, and couldn't even get an appointment. This was the third time Danny had lost a doctor due to DEA action.

We, at the Doctor Patient Forum, created a Google Document to attempt to collect stories of patient outcome from forced tapers and abandoned chronic pain patients. Please share the following:
Patient Abandonment and Forced Opioid Taper Questionnaire
If you have any questions about this form, please email Bev at bev@thedoctorpatientforum.com

For a list of studies showing accurate statistics including the tapering studies mentioned, please visit thedoctorpatientforum.com

Suicide hotline: 988 or 911

Disclaimer: The information that has been provided to you in this podcast is not to be considered legal or medical advice.

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Episode 15 - 12/9/22

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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)."

Check out Dr. Carl Hart's Twitter account

Here is a 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.

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Episode 14 - 11/13/22

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Danny Elliot was a chronic pain patient who has been vocal on Twitter about what it was like for him after he lost his doctor because of actions of the DEA.

Danny lost his doctor a few weeks ago for the third time due to the DEA. Where was the CDC's Opioid Rapid Response Program?

The following article in Pain News Network gives a bit more detail.

DEA Suspension of Doctor's License Leads to Double Suicide

Please go to the following sources to hear/read them in their entirety. 

  1. Journalist Barry Meier at Stanford Medicine's Health Policy Forum
  2. Roger Chou's interview - PCSS Episode 5 - Applications of the CDC Guidelines
  3. Kolodny's quote about suicide due to pain being bogus
  4. Adriane Fugh-Berman pushes back against Dr. Kertesz about the need to study suicide due to pain or stopping pain medication
  5. Danny's Podcast on Painkiller

Links mentioned in this podcast episode:

Opioid Rapid Response Program (ORRP) Information

Dr. Kertesz's Tweet about California Doctor

CDC's recent tweet about ORRP

Suicide hotline: 988 or 911

Disclaimer: The information that has been provided to you in this podcast is not to be considered legal or medical advice.

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Episode 13 - 10/31/22

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This is part 4 in our NarxCare/PDMP series. We interview Jacob James Rich. This episode focuses on PDMP harms, law enforcement's access to the PDMP, and whether HIPAA protects patients from PDMP data being shared.

Jacob James Rich is a researcher. Jacob also works as an analyst for Reason Foundation, focusing on healthcare policy. He has written extensively on drug policy topics, such as the consequences of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) on patient access and overdose mortality. Jacob is currently researching racial disparities in drug enforcement with CWRU Graduate Student Council's DEI Award.

Brief: https://reason.org/policy-study/prescription-drug-monitoring-programs-effects-on-opioid-prescribing-and-drug-overdose-mortality/

Reason bio page: https://reason.org/author/jacob-rich/

Twitter: @jacobjamesrich

Attorney Jennifer Oliva's article on PDMP and law enforcement in Duke Law Review - Prescription Drug Policing: The Right to Health Information privacy Pre- and post-Carpenter 

Links to topics mentioned:

  1. Opioid Rapid Response Program content on The Doctor Patient Forum Website
  2. OIG Toolkit

Links to podcasts or presentations in their entirety that were shared in this podcast - 

  1. NASCA - "State PDMP vs National PDMP"
  2. Cover 2 Resources - "Strike Force Stops Flow of Illicit Opioids"
  3. Cato Institute - "Patients, Privacy, and PDMP's"
  4. NPR show 1A - "Against the Pain - The Opioid Crisis and Medication Access"

Kate Nicholson's bio - "Kate Nicholson, JD, is a civil rights attorney and a nationally-recognized expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She served in the U.S. Department of Justice for 18 years, where she litigated and managed cases, coordinated federal disability policy, and drafted the current ADA regulations." - Executive Director at NPAC

Kate developed intractable pain after a surgical mishap left her unable to sit or stand and severely limited in walking for many years. She gave the TEDx talk, What We Lose When We Undertreat Pain, and speaks widely at universities and conferences and to medical groups."

Disclaimer: The information provided to you in this podcast is not to be considered medical or legal advice.

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Episode 12 - 10/24/22

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Claudia and Bev discuss PDMP's (Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs) and NarxCare with Atty. Jennifer Oliva. 

"Professor Oliva’s research and teaching interests include health law and policy, privacy law, evidence, torts, and complex litigation. She has served as an invited peer reviewer for the American Journal of Public Health, Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics, American Journal of Law & Medicine, Journal of Law and the Biosciences, and Big Data & Society and her scholarship has been published by or is forthcoming in, among other publications, the California Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Northwestern University Law Review, UCLA Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, Ohio State Law Journal, George Mason Law Review, and online companions to the University of Chicago Law Review and New York University Law Review."

Jenn is on the Science and Policy Advisory Council for NPAC (National Pain Advocacy Center)

Excerpts were played on this podcast that can be found in their entirety in the following links:

NPR show 1A - "Against the Pain: The Opioid Crisis and Medication Access"

"Patients, Privacy, and PDMP's" - Cato with Dr. Jeffrey Singer and Kate Nicholson

Duke Margolis - "Strategies for Promoting the Safe Use of Prescription Opioids"

NPR - "To End Addiction Epidemic" - Kolodny quote

Cover 2 Resources - Gary Mendell

Jennifer Oliva can be contacted on Twitter @jenndoliva

Learn more about Jennifer on her website at uchastings

Jennifer D. Oliva's paper:  "Dosing Discrimination: Regulating PDMP Risk Scores"

Disclaimer: The information provided to you in this podcast is not to be considered medical or legal advice

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Episode 11 - 10/10/22

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The Doctor Patient Forum

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

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