A Merciful Death !

In just a few days a range of pain medication containing opioids will disappear from chemists shelves.  On February 1, a law change will prevent the sale of such familiar brand names as Nurofen Plus without a doctors prescription.  It is hoped that this move will prevent Australia from becoming engulfed in the opioid death cycle that is ravaging America.

Unfortunately, the unnecessary use of opioids has been growing.  Because they have been freely available without a prescription some people have been using them long term for minor pain without realising their addictive properties.  The death toll here is estimated at about 2700 in the past five years.

 Now there are moves to limit the right of General Practitioners to write scripts for these drugs.  There is concern that people who already have an opioid addiction will react to the withdrawal by seeking prescriptions and that many doctors will be brow beaten into complying with those requests. We could see the supply of all opioids restricted to the dispensing power of specialists and palliative clinics.

There is a very real danger here that we may be condemning those on the fringe of society to a very panful death, and such a restriction would be an insult to the many GP's who treat the dying in their homes because they have a fear of death in the unfamiliar and unsympathetic ward of a general hospital.  That is of particular concern in country areas, where suitable hospital care is a long way from home and caring loved ones.

We all must eventually die and the termination of life is often accompanied by one or more of the diseases that deliver excruciating pain in its final stages.  It is evident from research that most people would prefer to die at home and that is also often the wish of relatives attending them.  Such a death should not be panful and many GP's are the attending doctor who prescribes appropriate pain relief to ease their passing.   To remove prescribing rights would disarm doctors from this function, which many years of training has equipped them to deliver.

The vast majority of GP's are very responsible people and they will treat prescribing opioids with care, but in any profession there is an unfortunate element that is only concerned with personal  wealth and has little concern for professional ethics.  Such people may willingly write scripts and it may be necessary to monitor their practice accordingly.

All scripts are processed through the Medicare system and an excess of prescriptions against any particular doctor should trigger an alarm.   Selective withdrawal of opioid prescription rights would be a far better option that a general ban on GP's.

Opioids are addictive, but they have a place in modern medicine and there are circumstances where they are the right treatment at the right stage of the progress of a disease - or to ease the end of life. We need to be careful that we do not over react -  or we simple deliver unintended misery!