PAIN PREVENTION

Patients often do not receive the pain relief they need, in part
because physicians don't want legal authorities to think they're
abetting drug abuse, suggests Timothy Jost, professor of law and
health services management at Ohio State University.

Writing in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Dr. Jost said that
patient comfort is an unfortunate casualty of the nation's war on drugs.

"We're fighting a war on drugs in this country, and some of the drugs
we're fighting against - like morphine - are the drugs that people in
serious pain really need," said Dr. Jost, who interviewed
prosecutors, defense attorneys and physicians to prepare his report.

Even though prosecutors assured Dr. Jost that they didn't wish to
inhibit physicians' legitimate use of narcotics, he found that
physicians who merely received letters asking about the volume of
narcotics they prescribed were often rattled by the inquiry.