A federal bankruptcy court judge on Friday said he would approve OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s latest deal to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids that includes some money for thousands of victims of the epidemic.
The deal overseen by US bankruptcy judge Sean Lane would require some of the multibillionaire members of the semi-reclusive Sackler family who own the company to contribute up to $7bn and give up ownership of the Connecticut-based firm.
The new agreement replaces one the US supreme court rejected last year, finding it would have improperly protected members of the family against future lawsuits. The judge said he would explain his decision in a hearing on Tuesday.
But what is the point of living if there’s no quality of life?
This is the difference between treating a patient as a person and ignoring the person but treating the disease as a broken machine.
Almost any medical treatment has potential or real side effects, possibly including death. Sometimes those side effects happen, and the risk is weighed against the benefit.
Pain relief is no different. You’re acting like an opioid pill is a death sentence. The fact is under proper medical care and supervision they can be quite safe.
The UNsafe things, the people who get addicted and die, are people who were NOT treated properly to begin with- given high dose extended release opioids (creating dependence), then cut off cold turkey. Proper protocol for that is a wean-off protocol where the dose is reduced slowly over time so the body adjusts without huge withdrawal. If the person turns to street drugs and ODs you’re right money can’t bring them back. But the problem is the prescriber that did an unsafe protocol, and the company that paid them to do it.
Blaming the pill for effects caused by medical mistreatment is stupid.
What is the point if you don’t?
The doctor has a valid moral claim not to promote deadly addictions.
They can, and the doctor is the most qualified person to make that assessment.
I’m criticizing your undervaluation of the dangers & poor acknowledgement of the cultural causes of the opioid epidemic such as misguided thinking about pain promoted by the pain scales, influence & regulatory capture by pain associations & pharmaceutical industries of medical policymakers to pressure physicians, campaigns popularizing myths. Competent doctors then & to this day found it all ridiculous & mostly disregard the pain scales: they rely on patient history & background, knowledge of their medical conditions, patient conversation.
Some pain is untreatable, and there is something to the idea that focus amplifies pain, moderation & acceptance lessen it.
That’s not how it works or the physician was incompetent.