[ad_1]
George H. Carter seems to have won his fight to make sure that people like him who suffer from sickle cell disease can get the high doses of opioids needed to control the excruciating pain.
On June 15, Governor Ralph S. Northam approved a by-law to bring about a change that Mr. Carter pushed as a director and chief lobbyist of the non-profit organization Sickle Cell – Virginia, the state organization of Richmond and other localities.
The regulatory change will allow doctors to provide those with a niche genetic disease with much higher levels of opioids without being forced to justify treatment as is now required when such potentially addictive drugs are prescribed to those who suffer.
It would be a big change for some 4,000 Virginians, mostly African Americans, who live with sickle cell disease, which creates stiff, less durable, crescent-shaped red blood cells that can block blood vessels and oxygen flow, creating painful episodes.
The Governor's action supports the 12-6 vote of the State Health Council in February to add sickle cell disease to the short list of exemptions from harsh regulations. 15-month emergency governing prescription of opioids.
Prior to the change, the only exceptions to the regulations were those who were treated for cancer or those who were diagnosed with a terminal illness and who received palliative or palliative care.
The change is now subject to public comment with the rest of the final regulation regarding the prescription of opioids, according to William Harp, executive director of the State Council of Medicine. "If the regulations are not suspended by a comment, they will come into effect on Wednesday, August 8," said Harp. Carter, a retired senior supply officer from the City of Richmond, can not wait for this to happen
The 72-year-old Richmond resident needed time and patience for sickle cell disease be recognized in this way.
success in the General Assembly, he said. Members of the Virginia Black Legislative Black Caucus have refused to stand up for people with sickle cell disease. Mr. Carter said that one delegate had even refused to meet him on this subject
Free Press did not receive any return calls or e-mails from any two Caucus members, the Delegate Lashrecse Aird of Petersburg and Delegate Marcia Price of Newport News, who sit on the committee dealing with opioids.
million. Carter refused to give up and took his case to the state Medical Council, along with other Sickle Cell-Virginia lawyers and support doctors.
"If you have not felt the pain, you can not imagine what it looks like," said Mr. Carter, who said he endures episodes at least two or three times per year.
Sickle cell pain largely considered unique because it often begins in the first year of life and continues into adulthood, often increasing in intensity as people age, according to researchers .
Some patients describe sickle cell pain as the worst pain that one can suffer – much worse than postoperative pain and at least as intense as cancer pain. This is the leading cause of emergency visits and hospitalizations in sickle cell patients, and the frequency of admissions for pain is a strong predictor of premature death, according to the researchers.
[ad_2]
Source link
