The Nov. 29 Tribune editorial, “Opioid dollars,” unfairly vilified physicians, offering a simplistic explanation of a complex problem.
By suggesting that doctors are easily manipulated by pharmaceutical companies, you have denigrated the ethical (and clinical) competence of the entire medical profession. Obviously, there are some physicians whose morals and judgment can be compromised for financial gain. But the vast majority of doctors who write prescriptions for opioid medications do so when such drugs are necessary, when other options are unavailable, or when faced with undue pressure to provide those prescriptions.
That brings me to the other, more substantive causative agents of this epidemic. First, insurance companies, which will readily pay for any and all such addictive pain medications regardless of the circumstance, while stubbornly refusing to pay one cent toward alternative therapies such as massage or acupuncture. Second, patients themselves, who have become so accustomed to instant gratification that they insist upon immediate relief of symptoms without due regard to the long-term consequences.
Pharmaceutical companies and doctors are indeed two components of this problem. But the other two components are equally important. One more note: Anyone who thinks that the influence of lobbyists over politicians is “subtle” has not been paying attention.
Scott Zuckerman, M.D., Kamas
