On Friday Nov. 30, the Bulletin’s headline reported that pain medication limits might be lifted for some patients and chronic sufferers. My wife and I experienced the horrors of getting adequate pain medication after she had emergency abdominal surgery last month.

Despite being gutted like a fish, while in a hospital bed her pain was adequately managed. On release, she still had significant pain but received a prescription for 14 Oxycodone to take every four to six hours (three days’ worth). Each day her pain level actually increased until it was unbearable. Back we went to St. Charles for a CT scan showing three abscesses creating more pain in her abdomen. A drain was placed, but the drain itself causes pain, requiring strong painkillers. Again we went home with 20 Oxycodone — four days’ worth.

Four weeks later, the drain remains, requiring more 25-mile trips from our home to the hospital, for a few more pills. Besides the time and expense, it was difficult to leave my wife alone to make these trips. In the office, the medical assistant suggested cutting the pills in half and adding some ibuprofen. Ibuprofen to treat abdominal cancer pain. Really?

I have now discovered that physicians can send opiate prescriptions directly to a pharmacy by purchasing an electronic signature system that transmits securely to the pharmacy of the patient’s choice. There is apparently a cost for the equipment, but every medical office should care enough about the patient’s comfort to immediately subscribe. Ours did not.

It has been reported widely that for about 20 years, Big Pharma sold far more opioids to health providers than could ever reasonably be justified to manage patients’ pain; and over-prescribing has greatly contributed to addiction in this country. Lawsuits are pending against Johnson & Johnson and other pharmaceutical companies, but the outcome of those is questionable.

So once again in this country the victims of legitimate pain become the criminals, while the executives at Big Pharma live in luxury in their mansions scattered about the globe, squired around in their private jets, then sailing their yachts. I doubt they are concerned about their fuel, co-pay bills and time from work. I suspect access to pain medication is no problem for them.

The disease model of addiction seems to have lost favor with Americans, so politicians have gone the punishment route, depriving patients in pain adequate medicine and forcing drug abusers onto cheaper options like heroin. Managing severe pain becomes a logistical nightmare because the “opiate crisis” has become a political football. We need responsible yet compassionate access to pain meds for post-op patients, not the draconian laws that limit the number of pills to relieve someone of real pain.

To cut off the pharmaceutical supply of opiates to abusers is as simple as connecting all the drug stores in the country to one large server. A few lines of code could list people who have had recent surgery or have been in an accident. Drug addicts who “shop” medical providers can be flagged. Perhaps a humane program (yet to be discovered) can be developed to help these individuals wean themselves from addiction.

The least politicians can do is loosen the noose they have put around the necks of medical providers who are trying to make their patients more comfortable.

I hope readers will contact their political representatives and demand appropriate legislation.

— Ralph Conradt lives in Bend.