Fwd: Cruel and Disgusting: Pain Patient Appeal Denied

[Guest guest]

Here's something that should make you take a deep breath and wonder just how

civilized we really are.

Gene G.

>

> Cruel and Disgusting: Pain Patient Appeal DeniedÂ

>

> Maia Szalavitz

> Huffington Blog

> March 12, 2007

>

>

> Florida's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Paey, a

> wheelchair-using father of three who is currently serving a 25-year mandatory

prison

> sentence for taking his own pain medication. In doing so, the court let stand

> a decision which essentially claims that the courts have no role in checking

> the powers of the executive and legislative branches of government when an

> individual outcome is patently unjust.

> Paey-- who suffers both multiple sclerosis and from the aftermath of

> a disastrous and barbaric back surgery that resulted in multiple major

> malpractice judgments--now receives virtually twice as much morphine in prison

> than the equivalent in opioid medications for which he was convicted of

forging

> prescriptions.

>

> He had previously been given legitimate prescriptions for the same doses of

> pain medicine-- but made the mistake of moving to Florida from New Jersey,

> where he could not find a physician to treat his pain adequately. Each of his

> medical conditions alone can produce agony. Paey has described his pain as con

> stantly feeling like his legs had been " dipped into a furnace. "

>

> The Ivy-league educated attorney has no prior criminal convictions and weeks

> of surveillance by narcotics agents did not find him selling the

> medications.

>

> The Florida Court of Appeals had upheld his conviction-- despite the lack of

> evidence of trafficking and despite the fact that most of weight of the

> substances he was convicted of possessing (higher weights lead to longer

> sentences) was made up of Tylenol, not narcotics. The majority suggested that

Paey

> seek clemency from the governor, claiming that his plea for mercy " does not

> fall on deaf ears, but it falls on the wrong ears. "

>

> In a jeremiad of a dissent, Judge Seals called the sentence

> " illogical, absurd, unjust and unconstitutional,In a jeremiad of a dissent,

Judge

> Seals called the sentence " illogical, absurd, unjust and unconstitutional,<

> wbr> " noting that Paey " could conceivably go to prison for a longer stretch

> for peacefully but unlawfully purchasing 100 oxycodone pills from a pharmacist

> than had he robbed the pharmacist at knife point

>

> But the Florida Supreme Court disagreed, letting the sentence stand, without

> comment. It released its cowardly decision in the media quiet of a Friday

> night. As Siobhan Reynolds, founder of the Pain Relief Network points out,

> " Where Florida stands now is that individuals have no recourse to the courts

when

> the executive and legislative branches behave tyranically.But the Florida

> Supreme Court disagreed, letting the sentence stand, without comment. It

> released its cowardly decision in the media quiet of

>

> Paey's only other alternatives now are an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court

> or clemency from Governor Charlie Crist.

>

> Writing in support of clemency, leading academic pain specialist

> Portenoy, MD, said, " the information available indicates that any questionable

> actions [Paey] took, actions which led ultimately to his arrest, were driven

> by desperation related to uncontrolled pain. "

>

> He noted that such cases " may increase the reluctance of professionals to

> treat pain aggressively.H

>

> Portenoy wrote that despite the fact that Paey required high doses of

> opioids, those doses were " clearly in the range used by pain specialists in

this

> country. " He stressed that, " The number of pills or milligrams of an opioid

> required for analgesia says nothing about any of the negative outcomes associa

> ted with these drugs-including abuse, addiction and diversion-and reference to

> the amount of drug as evidence of these outcomes by regulators or law

> enforcement should not be condoned. "

>

>

> Unfortunately, across the country, pain patients are being undermedicated

> and doctors are going to prison because the Justice Department refuses to

> believe this.

>

> People profess to be experts about addiction because they have personal

> experience with drugs or addicts; they think they know about opioid drugs

because

> they've watched a few episodes of E.R. or been through DARE classes at

> school. The truth is that opioids are amongst the safest drugs known to

humanity--

> when given appropriately, they do not kill.

>

> Unlike aspirin, Tylenol, Vioxx, Celebrex, Advil, Alleve and every other

> known class of pain medications, opioids do not harm any organs and there is

no

> maximum dose once a person has become tolerant to them. People need to educate

> themselves about the complexities of how drugs, brains and settings interact

> before making policies about them that send people like Paey to

> prison.

>

> Who is served by the incarceration of Paey? Certainly not his

> family, certainly not the taxpayers and absolutely not the image of America as

a

> decent, humane country. Certainly not the interests of pain patients or even

> drug addicts-- neither of whom benefit from viewing drugs as a criminal

justice

> issue. Not one child will be deterred from taking drugs, nor one mother

> saved the horror of an overdosed teen because we lock up those who need

opioids

> to relieve their pain.

>

> Governor Crist, please, do the right thing and send Paey home.

>

>

>

>

**************************************

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[Guest guest]

this has been going around on some ms websites and groups.

i've read alot about it because although i have ms i do not have pain (right

now)

jim davis

wegandy1938@... wrote: Here's something

that should make you take a deep breath and wonder just how

civilized we really are.

Gene G.

>

> Cruel and Disgusting: Pain Patient Appeal Denied

>

> Maia Szalavitz

> Huffington Blog

> March 12, 2007

>

>

> Florida's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Paey, a

> wheelchair-using father of three who is currently serving a 25-year mandatory

prison

> sentence for taking his own pain medication. In doing so, the court let stand

> a decision which essentially claims that the courts have no role in checking

> the powers of the executive and legislative branches of government when an

> individual outcome is patently unjust.

> Paey-- who suffers both multiple sclerosis and from the aftermath of

> a disastrous and barbaric back surgery that resulted in multiple major

> malpractice judgments--now receives virtually twice as much morphine in

prison

> than the equivalent in opioid medications for which he was convicted of

forging

> prescriptions.

>

> He had previously been given legitimate prescriptions for the same doses of

> pain medicine-- but made the mistake of moving to Florida from New Jersey,

> where he could not find a physician to treat his pain adequately. Each of his

> medical conditions alone can produce agony. Paey has described his pain as

con

> stantly feeling like his legs had been " dipped into a furnace. "

>

> The Ivy-league educated attorney has no prior criminal convictions and weeks

> of surveillance by narcotics agents did not find him selling the

> medications.

>

> The Florida Court of Appeals had upheld his conviction-- despite the lack of

> evidence of trafficking and despite the fact that most of weight of the

> substances he was convicted of possessing (higher weights lead to longer

> sentences) was made up of Tylenol, not narcotics. The majority suggested that

Paey

> seek clemency from the governor, claiming that his plea for mercy " does not

> fall on deaf ears, but it falls on the wrong ears. "

>

> In a jeremiad of a dissent, Judge Seals called the sentence

> " illogical, absurd, unjust and unconstitutional,In a jeremiad of a dissent,

Judge

> Seals called the sentence " illogical, absurd, unjust and unconstitutional,<

> wbr> " noting that Paey " could conceivably go to prison for a longer stretch

> for peacefully but unlawfully purchasing 100 oxycodone pills from a

pharmacist

> than had he robbed the pharmacist at knife point

>

> But the Florida Supreme Court disagreed, letting the sentence stand, without

> comment. It released its cowardly decision in the media quiet of a Friday

> night. As Siobhan Reynolds, founder of the Pain Relief Network points out,

> " Where Florida stands now is that individuals have no recourse to the courts

when

> the executive and legislative branches behave tyranically.But the Florida

> Supreme Court disagreed, letting the sentence stand, without comment. It

> released its cowardly decision in the media quiet of

>

> Paey's only other alternatives now are an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court

> or clemency from Governor Charlie Crist.

>

> Writing in support of clemency, leading academic pain specialist

> Portenoy, MD, said, " the information available indicates that any

questionable

> actions [Paey] took, actions which led ultimately to his arrest, were driven

> by desperation related to uncontrolled pain. "

>

> He noted that such cases " may increase the reluctance of professionals to

> treat pain aggressively.H

>

> Portenoy wrote that despite the fact that Paey required high doses of

> opioids, those doses were " clearly in the range used by pain specialists in

this

> country. " He stressed that, " The number of pills or milligrams of an opioid

> required for analgesia says nothing about any of the negative outcomes

associa

> ted with these drugs-including abuse, addiction and diversion-and reference

to

> the amount of drug as evidence of these outcomes by regulators or law

> enforcement should not be condoned. "

>

>

> Unfortunately, across the country, pain patients are being undermedicated

> and doctors are going to prison because the Justice Department refuses to

> believe this.

>

> People profess to be experts about addiction because they have personal

> experience with drugs or addicts; they think they know about opioid drugs

because

> they've watched a few episodes of E.R. or been through DARE classes at

> school. The truth is that opioids are amongst the safest drugs known to

humanity--

> when given appropriately, they do not kill.

>

> Unlike aspirin, Tylenol, Vioxx, Celebrex, Advil, Alleve and every other

> known class of pain medications, opioids do not harm any organs and there is

no

> maximum dose once a person has become tolerant to them. People need to

educate

> themselves about the complexities of how drugs, brains and settings interact

> before making policies about them that send people like Paey to

> prison.

>

> Who is served by the incarceration of Paey? Certainly not his

> family, certainly not the taxpayers and absolutely not the image of America

as a

> decent, humane country. Certainly not the interests of pain patients or even

> drug addicts-- neither of whom benefit from viewing drugs as a criminal

justice

> issue. Not one child will be deterred from taking drugs, nor one mother

> saved the horror of an overdosed teen because we lock up those who need

opioids

> to relieve their pain.

>

> Governor Crist, please, do the right thing and send Paey home.

>

>

>

>

**************************************

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