NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE Dr. Gaylord Wardell, anesthesiologist and pain specialist in Medicine Hat, describes the monitoring of medical cannabis prescriptions as a witch hunt.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
A clinic for chronic pain patients in Edmonton has been closed, affecting more than 900 people for whom the situation could be dire – including suicide – says the Chronic Pain Association of Canada.
“These people have no place to go,” said executive director Barry Ulmer. “We know now that almost 50 per cent of pain doctors are leaving the field because of the harassment that’s being going on from the CPSA (College of Physicians & Surgeons Alberta) who in my opinion are overstepping their boundaries by doing this.”
Patients who no longer have access to a pain specialist face forced tapering because nobody is going to prescribe it for them, and Ulmer expects suicides to increase.
“Quite frankly we’ve already seen it in a couple of cases,” said Ulmer. “We know others are going to become desperate enough they’re going to go to the streets and buy illicit drugs and then end up in the same statistics that everybody’s complaining about.”
Ulmer says the declining number of physicians treating pain patients in Alberta is the result of “hysteria” about opioids instead of illicit fentanyl.
“The regulatory body, instead of addressing the real problem, is blaming people in pain and their doctors for over prescribing,” said Ulmer.
The reasons for Dr. Robert Hauptman in Edmonton no longer treating pain patients is unclear apart from the fact that this was agreed to with CPSA and that he will not speak about it, according to an email the News has obtained.
A spokesperson for CPSA provided the following statement by email.
“The Health Professions Act does not allow CPSA to release details of this situation. I can share with you that any physician who has a significant change in practice scope (regardless of how it is arrived at) is obligated under CPSA’s Standards of Practice to make arrangements for ongoing care for patients. Patients can also reach out to HealthLink, their attending primary care provider or their Primary Care Network to seek alternate care arrangements. In these types of situation, the physician would have a period of months to transition their patients to a new care provider.”
Dr. Gaylord Wardell, anesthesiologist and pain specialist in Medicine Hat, is aghast that the College expects Hauptman to find physicians to refer his former patients to.
“That’s like killing your parents and then asking for an orphan’s pension, for them to de-licence him and then make it his responsibility to solve the problem,” said Wardell, who believes CPSA has assumed executive, legislative and judicial roles.
“They are judge, jury and executioner.”
Wardell says only the premier can force them to change.
Ulmer believes the College has lost sight of chronic pain patients and questions the appropriateness of the power it has assumed over doctors.
Ulmer says chronic pain patients struggle to make sense of the fact the government is investing large sums of money to help those addicted to illicit drugs but is ignoring them. They don’t understand why they can’t go to a physician to get a legitimate prescription for pain.
Wardell says Alberta Health and the College does not have an understanding of the physiology and science of chronic pain.
“In the last six months I’ve had five patients whose opioids were discontinued by their family doctor.”
The college tracks exactly what triplicate prescriptions each doctor writes and they are given a report back every three months.
“Doctors hate that. They’re afraid of the College anyway,” said Wardell.
Meanwhile the chronic pain patients who are not treated will suffer, may have to give up work, some will turn to street drugs and some will die by suicide, said Wardell.
“There may be a few who will find a doctor willing to take them on but it will be someone likely without the skills that Hauptman had,” said Wardell.
Drew Barnes, MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat, says his constituency office regularly hears from people with chronic pain.
“Our new government should focus on quality, effective, timely treatment options and ensure our limited public funds are used to the best advantage of patients,” said Barnes.
The News requested an interview with the Minister of Health. This was not provided.
The News will have several related stories in the coming days.
