Rescind the 2016 Center for Disease Control (CDC) Opioid Prescribing Guidelines as Failed Public Health Policy
Transparency
Where is the admission, accountability or transparency regarding the purposefully, knowingly manipulated and concealed CDC data utilized as a foundation for instituting highly flawed public health policy, ultimately leading to “clinical misapplication” of recommendations further harming patients being used as arbitrary regulations to support prosecution and incarceration of physicians, institute state laws for arbitrary dosage thresholds, permitting third party administrator refusal to cover prescriptions or pharmacists to fill prescriptions, fueling stigma and denial of care to patients experiencing acute, chronic or intractable pain?
See reference.
Click to access s40122-021-00254-z.pdf
Credibility
Because the CDC purposefully skewed data, and have not taken steps to amend said data, the CDC does not have a leg to stand on to institute any public health policy whatsoever, regarding prescribing opioids.
The 2016 CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines should be rescinded for that reason alone.
Manipulating the Healthcare Landscape
Considering that the CDC data was fundamentally skewed to drive a false narrative, pander to special interests with an agenda to profiteer by implementing and declaring a “faux crisis” in order to institute opioid prohibition, and no attempts were made by the CDC to remedy skewed data to date, yet academia, federal agencies, legislators, public health officials, non-profits, pharmaceutical, technology, device companies, and the media continue to quote or utilize incorrect information, further driving the harms to patients, immediate action should be taken to rescind the 2016 CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines.
Lack of Oversight
CDC actions are responsible for one of the biggest wealth transfers in history, funded by US taxpayers to the tune of billions, a “crisis” was required in order to rationalize litigation to raid pharmaceutical companies, fund state coffers, academia and NPO’s when in fact, the overdose deaths are in reality, clearly attributed to illicit drugs, not legally prescribed pain medications.
Agenda
The 2016 CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines have literally unleashed a “Pandora’s Box” as it relates to patient care, as the ultimate goal is to shift from individualized care, to population health, self management, CBT, multi-modal, interventional medicine void of opioids as a long term treatment option, as a healthcare cost cutting measure.
Stakeholders with Ambitions
Data is the new gold, and algorithms will drive patient care, and patient context will matter not, in the age of artificial intelligence.
Patients who fall outside the median, who require individualized care, tough luck!
Big Data, and other stakeholders with deep pockets and a lot invested, is counting on the CDC to continue to uphold their false narrative, as the age of artificial intelligence, algorithms and patient surveillance is upon us, and let it be noted, it is highly, highly lucrative.
For this reason, patient’s voices are being systematically silenced and censored.
Justification
To justify this shift, the CDC Guidelines were instituted to enable studies on patients who were being forcefully tapered, without “informed patient consent,” because patients would not voluntarily consent to tapering, these studies were necessary to justify both population health cost cutting measures and opioid prohibition.
Patients are now commodities, not human beings in need of compassionate healthcare but, merely a dot plotted on a algorithm graph.
CDC actions have culminated in an effort to dilute patient-physician autonomy and has culminated in physicians leaving the field of pain management, patients being abandoned by primary care, patients suffering from decreased mobility/ quality of life, pain from forced non-consensual tapers, under-diagnosed pain and under-treated pain, subsequent medical complications, accelerated mortality, preventable deaths, to include both suicide and now, having no access to medical care, patients are forced to turn to the streets to self-medicate, risking overdose from a unsafe illicit drug supply.
Denial of medical care does not an addict make.
Ongoing Corruption
Yet, the negligence in federal oversight continues, further harming patients.
Example: Roger Chou declared a conflict of interest (as it turns out with AHRQ- charged with conducting clinical studies) during the July 16th, 2021 public meeting, yet the BSC/ CDC failed to comment or bring further transparency regarding this conflict of interest?
This is just one of many examples of well documented failure to disclose, collusion and profiteering.
The level of corruption including conflicts of interests, profiteering and downright exploitation of vulnerable patients by multiple shareholders, who seem only concerned with their bottom line, new avenues of revenue, or protecting existing avenues of revenue and certainly not the suffering of living beings with painful diseases, physical trauma, or end of life pain is ethically and morally deplorable however but it is highly profitable.
The entire process has been corrupted.
From beginning to end.
Not to mention potentially illegal.
The focus needs to return to caring for patients-directly by returning autonomy to physicians and patients, to make their own informed clinical decisions, within context.
Congressional Oversight
This is why many patient advocates are calling for the 2016 CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines to be rescinded and for a Congressional Hearing to be initiated to bring transparency and greater oversight to this issue, and other issues including the continuous revolving door of public health officials, allocation of tax dollars and hidden funding to NPO’s and Foundations, including the CDC Foundation, as the CDC actions or lack there of, and other shareholders, don’t just border on unethical but, potentially illegal.
Implications
So ultimately, the CDC and other federal agencies have taken power of attorney over US citizens by instituting draconian public health policy as a method to profiteer from human suffering and death as patients are precluded from utilizing opioids as a tool to manage pain and the corpses of addicts continue to pile up on the street, we can conclude that the 2016 CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines are an inescapable public health policy failure.
Failed Public Health Policy
By denying access to pain medication that give patients functional mobility and quality of life, the fall out and ramifications of infringing on patient rights include denying informed healthcare choices and informed consent, privacy, coercion into treatment modalities that are invasive and ineffective, leaving patients as a medical liability to physicians, and patients with no viable, accessible avenue for recourse when harmed.
Viable Options
The only viable options left to patients now is to call for a Congressional Hearing, and demand that the 2016 Center for Disease Control (CDC) Opioid Prescribing Guidelines as Failed Public Health Policy be immediately rescinded.
Thank you for considering this feedback.
Pain Advocacy Coalition
July 23rd, 2021
Thank you for the well researched and excellent summary of what has happened with prescription opiate pain medication. The harm has been widespread and severe. Truly unnecessary and preventable once the error was uncovered.