Missouri: The Last State to Fight Addiction II
- matthew6573
- Feb 27, 2015
- 5 min read
The bill for prescription drug monitoring is going back to the Senate this year. Please support the cause. Senator Schaaf and Barnes need to be urged about their very archaic opinions, and be swayed. This is not a matter of “privacy” and don’t be fooled by the Dr. in front of Senator Schaaf’s name. Senator Schaaf who led the resistance for defeating this bill in 2012 can be quoted saying “If they overdose and kill themselves, it just removes them from the gene pool.” “There’s some people who say you are causing people to die — but I’m not causing people to die. I’m protecting other people’s liberty”.
Senator Schaaf is throwing fancy words out that he is protecting liberty…and protecting rights. This seems to be a catchphrase “protecting people’s liberty” that people like to use to sway public opinion. However, let us be realistic. What Senator Schaaf is proposing is a “Let’s Do Nothing Approach”. Which historically sitting back and doing nothing never works…especially in medicine. The lack of preventative care has been going so well in this country (please add sarcasm to that last statement), by all means, let’s continue with this mantra.
I cannot stand behind any doctor who says lets just let them overdose and weed themselves out. (Please add some heavy handed sarcasm to the following:) So is that how you, Senator Schaaf practice with diabetics too? Let them just eat McDonald’s and refuse their insulin, they will just weed themselves out. Or how about cancer? Let them just skip chemotherapy, they are going to die anyway? Or how about Major Depressive Disorder? How about we just keep them from being treated with antidepressants, if they suicidal they will just kill themselves clearly they aren’t mentally stable and should be weeded out of the gene pool. (Please note I clearly do not feel this way for any of the conditions listed).
Didn’t you, Senator Schaaf, take some kind of oath to protect your patient’s? Last time I checked drug abuse and drug addiction were billable and diagnosable medical codes therefore considered diagnosable and treatable medical illnesses. So…your treatment plan is…let them have what they want on the streets to kill themselves? Your proposal Senator Schaaf is to take no action and to allow your patient to kill themselves? Sounds like fantastic medical practice! If we adopted this policy around the nation it would save us a lot of time. We wouldn’t have to treat any illness. The weak will be weeded out of the gene pool, we could bill for all the services we want and herd people through our offices like cattle in 5 min. visits because we don’t have to worry about treatment or preventative care. (Clearly I don’t agree with any of the proposals listed above, so again, please add a heavy not of sarcasm).
(Continued Sarcasm) Also, let’s forget medical school, because really there is no need to be a doctor if our treatment plan is: let them do what they want, they will just kill themselves anyway and the weak will be weeded out of the gene pool. Doesn’t take 8 years of med school plus residency to work that treatment plan out.
I truly believe this is a lazy man’s attitude hiding behind “civil liberties”. How about taking a stance to save some lives and treating some illnesses which is correct me if I’m wrong, is what medicine is about? (I’m not wrong thanks to google search: medicine definition)
med·i·cine
ˈmedəsən/
noun
1. the science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery).
2. a compound or preparation used for the treatment or prevention of disease, especially a drug or drugs taken by mouth.
“give her some medicine”
synonyms: medication, medicament, drug, prescription, pharmaceutical, dose, treatment, remedy, cure; More
healing substances or drugs collectively.
“an aid convoy loaded with food and medicine”
3. (among North American Indians and some other peoples) a spell, charm, or fetish believed to have healing, protective, or other power.
“Fleur was murdering him by use of bad medicine”
So Senator Schaaf, how about spending your time coming up with a way to protect patient rights in the system Missouri builds for patient monitoring? Or how about finding a way to prevent the “hacking” you are so worried about? Oh I forgot…that requires WORK. That actually requires THOUGHT and ACTION which would negate my original conclusions that this is a “lazy man’s attitude” using sugar coated language and catchphrases to sway public opinion.
For a Senator who says he is ProLife I truly don’t believe you. You can’t pick one patient population (the unborn) and choose Life for them while not supporting your other patients like the drug addicts to be weeded out by natural selection. That would make you a hypocrite. Or do you deny that Addiction is an illness, in which case you should be fighting the AMA, the APA, and the other medical communities who list it as a diagnosable illness instead of hiding behind your “civil liberties” catchphrase?
This is about a doctor who clearly doesn’t believe that addiction is a treatable illness. Well it is…I am on the front lines fighting everyday. I have been fighting as a nurse and now I am fighting as a Nurse Practitioner. I am fighting to save lives, I am fighting to help empower and heal my patients. I will not let them just overdose to weed them out of the gene pool. I got into medicine through nursing and becoming a Nurse Practitioner to help people. I support preventative care. I support treatment. I support fighting mental illness, addiction, and all illness listed medically, and even those who have not yet been listed as diagnostic codes. I support saving lives. I don’t know why you got into medicine Senator Schaaf, my guess is money and political power, because any physician who cared about their patients at all would not sit by for them to just subject to Darwin’s Theories. The doctors I know and support are right here fighting to save lives, to heal, to treat, and to prevent illness. They are fighting addiction, they are fighting depression, diabetes, cancer, and all illnesses.
So FB and social media readers, especially in Missouri, urge your politicians to support the bill in the senate this year that will save lives through ACTION rather than inaction. Your “civil liberties” are not at stake, unless you are profiting from the sale of prescription medications on the street. Then yes I am sorry, you may be found out and arrested. So drug dealer you may choose to protest this bill as your income will be in jeopardy if you cannot doctor shop to sell medications on the street. Also those of you who are addicts, yes, this would mean your “civil liberties” to kill yourself and overdose will also be in jeopardy, so if you aren’t ready to let go of your addiction, and want to continue to doctor shop to get the drugs you want that could be problematic as well, so you can protest this bill as well. Other than that, for those of you that really have nothing to lose, just trust me on this: 1) People are dying everyday from addiction. 2) People fly into this state, drive into this state, take the train into this state just to doctor hop and get drugs (I have witnessed it). 3) Not having a prescription drug monitoring program makes it harder for those of us trying to save lives do so effectively. 4) Addiction can be treated and prevented.
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