Abstract

The current debate about physician-assisted suicide and the question of whether patients would ask for such help if their pain were adequately controlled place in sharp focus the issue of undertreated pain. Studies have repeatedly documented the scope of the problem. A 1993 study of 897 physicians caring for cancer patients found that 86 percent of the physicians reported that most patients with cancer are undermedicated for their pain. A 1994 study found that noncancer patients receive even less adequate pain treatment than patients with cancer-related pain, and that minority patients, the elderly, and women were more likely than others to receive inadequate pain treatment. Although the problem of undertreatment of pain is multifaceted, I only address how state medical boards contribute to the problem and suggest possible remedies.The literature on palliative care describes the numerous barriers that impede effective pain management and that result in the inadequate prescribing of pain-relieving drugs for terminally and chronically ill patients.