Description
The Right to Pain Relief and Other Deep Roots of the Opioid Epidemic offers a new lens through which to view the opioid epidemic as a consequence of serious misunderstandings of both opioids and pain. Based on their extensive research and experience with chronic pain care, science, ethics, and policy, the authors look beyond the usual villains-pharmaceutical companies and pharmacotherapy distributors-to examine the ethical and scientific concepts about pain that made the opioid epidemic possible.The book explores the history of pain in Western society, the role of innovation in end-of-life care, the conception of pain control as an important medical responsibility, and the various models of pain that have led to our current understanding of it, ultimately arguing that we must reintegrate pain with the rest of human suffering as a necessary part of a full life. Containing patient vignettes as well as scientific and policy controversies that have emerged as the opioid epidemic has evolved, The Right to Pain Relief and Other Deep Roots of the Opioid Epidemic examines these implications in a more human and holistic way than has been ever addressed before by the popular press and professional literature.
Table of Contents
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsChapter 1. The problems of pain in Western SocietyChapter 2. The medical dream of conquering painChapter 3. The emergence of a right to pain relief: A change in the meaning of painChapter 4. Chronic pain as a diseaseChapter 5. Looking beyond a biopsychosocial model of painChapter 6. Pain medicine and the medicalization of chronic painChapter 7. Selling opioids as targeted painkillersChapter 8. From causal to moral models of pain and the right to pain reliefChapter 9. Finding a place for pain in medicine, in policy, and in lifeChapter 10. Clinician's perspective: Dr. Clark's taleChapter 11. Patient's perspective: My name is Reggie WinstonIndex
