By Lenny Bernstein, Photo: Keith Srakocic/Associated Press, The Washington Post, February 10, 2022
The federal government on Thursday proposed new guidelines for prescribing opioids that would eliminate numerical dosage recommendations for treatment of chronic pain in favor of a more flexible approach by caregivers.
The recommendations call for doctors and other prescribers to weigh the risks and benefits of starting, increasing and halting treatment with opioids. They leave out previous advice on the amount and duration of painkiller treatments that patients and doctors have contended was sometimes misinterpreted, causing serious harm to people suffering unrelenting pain.
Some states and caregivers adopted tight rules based on the recommendations, first issued in 2016, resulting in patients having difficulty obtaining pain drugs or having them cut off abruptly.
Comments (0)