The courageous legacy of Siobhan Reynolds
William Anderson at LewRockwell.com has a great article about a brave freedom fighter that the world lost on Christmas Eve. Siobhan Reynolds was an advocate against overzealous federal prosecution of doctors who prescribe pain medication, and its horrible effects on people who suffer from pain. Her husband died after the only doctor who would prescribe him the medication he needed was forced out of business (and thrown in jail) by federal prosecutors. As a result, she founded the Pain Relief Network, with the mission of educating people about pain medication and advocating for those suffering from chronic pain and doctors who treat them. As a reward for her advocacy and courageous exercise of her free speech rights, she became the subject of a grand jury investigation for obstruction of justice, forcing her organization to close.
“Reynolds had a husband, Sean, who had a serious health problem, a congenital connective tissue disorder that left him with debilitating pain in his joints. Like so many others in the USA who suffer from severe chronic pain, he was unable to receive adequate medical relief because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, not doctors, determine what is a ‘legitimate medical purpose’ for prescribing of opioids for pain. However, Siobhan’s husband finally found a physician, Dr. William Hurwitz, a doctor in Northern Virginia, who was willing to write prescriptions for higher doses of pain-killers.
The higher doses worked, and for the first time in years, Siobhan’s husband was able to function at a much more normal level, but such satisfactory results were anathema to the nation’s drug warriors, and especially to U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty, the Religious Right federal prosecutor who might have publicly proclaimed his Christian beliefs, but did not carry them to his line of work…
Dr. Hurwitz, his life and medical practice shattered, his family destroyed, and his future in prison, was not the only victim of McNulty’s viciousness. (While in prison, Dr. Hurwitz developed an eye disorder, and because of the lack of decent medical care provided for federal inmates, he became blind in one eye.) Patients suffering from chronic pain – people who at best McNulty considered to be ‘collateral damage’ – found themselves in a desperate situation. The Hurwitz prosecution not only kept him from writing prescriptions, but other doctors did not want to experience the same fate and refused to adequately treat certain patients for pain.”
Anderson’s article is a must read – he makes excellent points about patients’ rights, prosecutorial and judicial misconduct, the doctrine of mens rea, statutory vagueness, and more. Read it at his blog or at LewRockwell.com.
The headline for this article in LewRockwell.com’s archives reads, “The War on Drugs Is the War for Pain.” What a perfect description of how wrong and misguided the federal government’s policy on prescription pain medications is. It is bad enough that we have the Durham-Humphrey Amendment, which takes away each person’s right to decide for themselves which medications to take, and only allows them to take medications that a doctor approves of. Now, doctors don’t even have the right to prescribe the medications that they think are appropriate. They are browbeaten, by the threat of federal prosecution, into disrespecting their patients’ wishes and depriving them of the pain medications that they need to function. It is unacceptable that, when companies are willing to produce effective pain medications and people are willing to buy them, people are not allowed to gain adequate relief for their pain. What could be a more unworthy cause to fight for, and what could more defeat the purpose of life, than to subject innocent people to needless pain?