TASK FORCE: NEW OFFICE NEEDED TO IMPROVE PAIN MANAGEMENT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon should set up a new office to improve pain
management and ease doctors fears about treating pain with narcotics, a
state task force has recommended.

During a six hour session Thursday, the group put finishing touches on its
recommendations, which include hiring an ombudsman to oversee programs
aimed at improving pain management.

The recommendations will be given to Gov. John Kitzhaber and the
Legislature next month in hopes that lawmakers pass them into law.

Oregon has been looked on as a national leader in pain management
especially for terminally ill patients.

But patients with chronic pain -- especially those not suffering from a
terminal illness -- often do not get adequate relief. That reality prompted
the Legislature to organize the 30-member task force last year.

"It's difficult to get help with pain relief because of doctors fearing
what the (state) board is going to do," said Ellie Jenning, a disabled
woman who has followed the task force. "It's mainly the perception of what
they will do, but those fears still exist.

"This will give doctors a place to go and air complaints and it would let
patients know that they have a place to go for help," said Jenning, who
also represents Project Equality, a consumer group supporting the Oregon
Health Plan.

The task force held public hearings all over the state and the
recommendations are the results of hours of testimony from doctors,
insurers, advocates and patients.

What the task force found was that doctors and other health care providers
are not always familiar with state-of-the-art pain treatments, and state
regulations sometimes inhibit the best treatments.

The fear of causing a patient to become addicted to narcotics often makes
doctors underprescribe pain killers and shy away form narcotics.

And chronic pain is not detected well in children, the elderly and
minorities with language differences.

Roger Weeks, a retired hospice chaplain and task force member said the new
state office and ombudsman are a start.

"This is a good thing from a consumer point of view," Weeks said. "This
will allow people to find out about resources they may not have known
existed."

Checked-by: Richard Lake