Mayersohn to DOH Commish: Release New Pain Relief Policy to Doc

A week after The Queens Courier revealed that the State Department of Health (DOH) has relaxed its policy on prescribing narcotics for pain-wracked cancer patients, a Flushing assemblywoman on the health committee urged DOH to release its new guidelines to all of the States physicians.
Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn called upon State Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia C. Novello to notify physicians of DOHs new pain relief policy encouraging physicians to give patients all the narcotic medication they need to effectively manage pain.
The earlier policy discouraged physicians to give adequate doses of narcotics because of fear that DOH would cite them for medical misconduct. The Medical Society of the State of New York in Lake Success had been calling for changes in the harsh law that discouraged doctors from aiding suffering cancer patients.
Kristine Smith, a spokesperson for DOH, promised The Queens Courier earlier that the new policy freeing doctors from the old policy would be sent to every physician in the State. She also noted that her agency was eliminating the triplicate prescription forms used for controlled substances (narcotics) and replacing it with a single-page format. The triplicate form reportedly intimidated doctors and altered their prescribing patterns to the detriment of cancer patients.
Mayersohn, in calling for the release of the new pain relief policy, said many physicians in the State including directors of palliative care (care for the terminally ill), are unaware of the change in policy.
"Its time to make the new approach to pain relief available to every physician in the State so that patients will benefit," Mayersohn said. "Dr. Novello has wisely changed the Departments earlier policy. Now its time to put it into the hands of physicians."
The State Medical Society has been campaigning to change the DOH policy.
"Seventy to eighty percent of Americans die in pain and the reason is that physicians have hassle factors with pain management. Physicians shy away from pain management because they fear State action," said Russell W. Bessette, chair of the New York State Public Health Council.
A statement by the 14-member Committee on Pain Management reported that doctors "fear unwarranted legal consequences for prescribing controlled substances. Some physicians are worried about criminal liability if the drug unintentionally hastens a patients death."
Meanwhile, the New York Academy of Medicine is seeking to strengthen palliative care curricula in the States 14 medical schools. It has formed a committee led by Dr. Alan Fleischman, senior vice president of the Academy.