Undertreatment in Pain Management

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Recommended: Ethics in health and social care

Shortly after I had learned to drive, my mother called me while I was at the store. She told me in an urgent voice that she was in a lot of pain and had to be taken to the doctor. I immediately left the store and drove my poor mother to the health center where she could be helped. After waiting for what seemed like forever, my mother was finally taken back to see the doctor. As it turned out, my mother had a condition that caused spasms of pain throughout the day. Despite the fact that she had this condition, she was given a minimal amount of Vicodin to get her through the agonizing pain. She suffered through the pain for weeks, and the medicine did little to help the spasms that shook her whole body. I watched her in despair. If it was the doctor’s job to help her, why didn’t he do anything to assuage her pain?
My mother is one of the millions of people throughout the United States that had to suffer through her chronic pain because the doctor didn’t prescribe enough medication to make her condition bearable. Throughout America, around 50 to 75 million people suffer from moderate to severe chronic pain. Despite this fact, only 25% of those with this kind of chronic pain are provided with sufficient treatment to control it (Roget and Fisher). This kind of ongoing pain decreases progress in work and daily activities, and as a result it can reduce a person’s overall quality of life (Chronic Pain). This kind of undertreatment of pain happens all the time, yet most people are left to trust the authority of the physician to prescribe the right amount for their pain. The undertreatment of moderate to severe chronic pain is an issue that should be eradicated from the medical field by properly educating physicians about how to evaluate p...

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... problem in the medical field.

Works Cited

"Chronic Pain." Films On Demand. Films Media Group, 2005. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

Denny, Dawn L, and Ginny W Guido. "Undertreatment Of Pain In Older Adults: An Application Of Beneficence." Nursing Ethics 19.6 (2012): 800-809. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

Roget, Nancy A., and Gary L. Fisher. Encyclopedia Of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, & Recovery. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2009. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 30 Oct. 2013.

Sullum, Jacob. "Painful Reminder." Reason 30.5 (1998): 21. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

Szalavitz, Maia. "Chronic, Undertreated Pain Affects 116 Million Americans." Time. Time, 29 June 2011. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

Szalavitz, Maia. "Study: Most Addicts Get Painkillers from Friends or Family, Not Doctors | TIME.com." Time. Time, 20 June 2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

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