Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

People who take opioids are the AIDS patients of today

Heather Finlay-Morreale, MD
Meds
June 4, 2019
Share
Tweet
Share

Stigma towards health conditions interferes with access to compassionate care. Both social stigmas from friends and family and medical stigma from professionals are issues. Perhaps the worst recent example of medical stigma is how people with HIV/AIDS were treated in the 1980s. They were isolated physically and spiritually. While in medical school a professor related that on the HIV floor the food trays were left outside the door like at a zoo since the staff was afraid to enter the rooms. Much of the public believed people with HIV/AIDS were to blame for their disease due to their “lifestyle” and had no sympathy for their suffering. Research and assistance were slow to develop, and a generation of gay men and others died waiting. People who take opioids are the AIDS patients of today.

The stigmatization of patients who use opioids extends to those trying to quit. Buprenorphine is the best treatment for substance use disorder (SUD). To prescribe it, providers must obtain a special permit, which limits this life-saving treatment. However, physicians can prescribe Oxycontin with no limits.  I obtained my permit and hoped to treat adolescents. Fellow pediatricians shared with me their viewpoints. I was told that there were “legal” issues. Another told me that if I treated children with SUD and that word spread that <gasp!> former addicts might be sitting in the waiting room, that families would flee from my practice. I was told that those with SUD should only be treated in addict-only centers in the city. I disagree with this: People with SUD deserve to be treated in their community, by the provider that has known them their whole life.

Just as AIDS patients of the 1980s were blamed for their disease, some today act as if patients with addiction issues deserve their fate. Due to my religious faith, I believe all people have inherent worth and dignity. This is not stripped away when people make poor choices. We all have made poor choices. Rather than a community of sinners, I see a community that is in pain. Many people with SUD have faced pain and traumas. Drug use is better understood as a poor choice of coping method by people who had few options. Many addicts grew up as children facing trauma who lacked strong support networks and had limited opportunities to get help. Families on Medicaid can hardly get a call back from therapists, and even those with suicidality and violent outbursts are unable to get care until they finally require an in-patient bed. It is easy to see why the temporary relief found in drugs can be appealing when much of the rest of life is pain.

Opioids relieve physical or emotional pain. Unfortunately, neither pain nor people experiencing pain, are dealt with well. The opioid crisis is, at its heart, a pain crisis. Not surprisingly, people in physical pain often get poor treatment from the medical community, much as AIDS patients did in the ‘80s. Some people use prescribed opioids to treat painful conditions yet still face great stigma. As someone with a painful nerve condition, I am active in online chronic pain groups and repeatedly hear the same story. I hear of patients being turned away from doctors afraid of the issues surrounding opioids. Stable patients have been cut off from their medication when a doctor retires and have been unable to find new prescribers. People have been cut off from a medication that allows them to work and care for their children. Another chronic pain patient was taking prescribed opioids for a neurological condition. Her psychiatrist changed from a collegial, friendly, compassionate provider to a critical, mistrusting, and disapproving provider. In time she had to get a new psychiatrist. Clearly, some people equate all opioid use, whether street or prescribed, as the same. Pain patients forced to seek care in ERs face the same negative attitude. They are labeled “drug-seekers” and their whole evaluation is colored by this. I am not arguing that pain patients should be treated better than those with SUD but rather that all people using opioids deserve respect and understanding.

Clearly, those who take opioids face great stigma, similar to AIDS patients in the 80s. I urge my fellow medical providers to wake up and not repeat the error of the 80s and let a whole community perish due to misguided stigma about who is deserving of suffering and its relief.

Heather Finlay-Morreale is a pediatrician. This article originally appeared in Psychology Today.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Why you shouldn't place too much importance in college and medical school rankings

June 4, 2019 Kevin 0
…
Next

The role of hatred in medicine

June 4, 2019 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Pain Management, Psychiatry

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Why you shouldn't place too much importance in college and medical school rankings
Next Post >
The role of hatred in medicine

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Heather Finlay-Morreale, MD

  • Empathetic patient care: Addressing disability in education

    Heather Finlay-Morreale, MD
  • Having more doctors to assess rare, multi-system illnesses

    Heather Finlay-Morreale, MD
  • Focusing on the frontlines of COVID leaves behind those with disabilities and chronic illness

    Heather Finlay-Morreale, MD

Related Posts

  • How the war on opioids has harmed some patients

    Angelika Byczkowski
  • Are patients using social media to attack physicians?

    David R. Stukus, MD
  • Patients in Sweden received fewer post-op opioids. Why is that?

    Richard Young, MD
  • Blame the pain, not the opioids

    Angelika Byczkowski
  • Why staying ahead of your pain with opioids is the wrong advice

    Myles Gart, MD
  • Physicians are being murdered for not prescribing opioids

    Jessica Jameson, MD

More in Meds

  • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

    GJ van Londen, MD
  • Pharmacists are key to expanding Medicaid access to digital therapeutics

    Amanda Matter
  • How medicine repurposing enables value-based pain management and insomnia therapy

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

    Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA
  • From stigma to science: Rethinking the U.S. drug scheduling system

    Artin Asadipooya
  • How drugmakers manipulate your health from diagnosis to prescription

    Martha Rosenberg
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      GJ van Londen, MD | Meds
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Life’s detours may be blessings in disguise

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Physician
    • Inside the heart of internal medicine: Why we stay

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • The quiet grief behind hospital walls

      Aaron Grubner, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • Bundled payments in Medicare: Will fixed pricing reshape surgery costs?

      AMA Committee on Economics and Quality in Medicine, Medical Student Section | Policy
    • How Project ECHO is fighting physician isolation and transforming medical education [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 4 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      GJ van Londen, MD | Meds
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Life’s detours may be blessings in disguise

      Osmund Agbo, MD | Physician
    • Inside the heart of internal medicine: Why we stay

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • The quiet grief behind hospital walls

      Aaron Grubner, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • Bundled payments in Medicare: Will fixed pricing reshape surgery costs?

      AMA Committee on Economics and Quality in Medicine, Medical Student Section | Policy
    • How Project ECHO is fighting physician isolation and transforming medical education [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

People who take opioids are the AIDS patients of today
4 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...