Pubdate: Wed, 30 Mar 2016
Source: West Hawaii Today (HI)
Copyright: 2016 West Hawaii Today
Contact: http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/contact_us/letters/
Website: http://westhawaiitoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/644
Author: David Lohr
Note: David Lohr is a resident of Ocean View.

CRACKDOWN ON DOCTOR UNFAIR

Not only did your newspaper make a rush to judgment (front page 
headlines above the fold on March 19) the local small and big box 
pharmacies have followed your lead and refuse to fill his prescriptions.

I would like to know if this is a conspiracy or mere coincidence. On 
March 22 Dr. Arrington wrote a prescription to me for an opiate for 
which I feel very thankful and fortunate to have been made available 
for the last 25 years due to a very painful debilitating progressive 
disease that will continue to painfully progress until I draw my last breath.

I pray that whoever made the decision to have the pharmacies not fill 
Dr. Arrington's prescriptions would have to endure only half the 
withdrawal affects I am about to experience very shortly. Not even I 
would be cruel enough to have that person feel what I expect to be 
coming. That person has changed the war on drugs to include the war 
on patients.

At Costco a pharmacist after just seeing his name decided to withhold 
the prescription from me and was only returned while I was mentioning 
that it was my private property. She informed me if I would like to 
have a seat the DEA was expected shortly. After he arrived and had a 
discussion between two rows of shelved medications he emerged, 
introduced himself, and asked if I could be helped. After explaining 
my problem he looked at me and casually said "find a new doctor." As 
of March 23 Dr. Arrington had been charged with nothing and yet 
perfectly legal prescriptions go unfilled because of a might have or 
a maybe did. Just find a new doctor!

There is an interesting article posted March 2, 2004, by NOVA dealing 
with a Dr. Dave Lounsbury, who is a physician and colonel in the U.S. 
Army Medical Corps who delves into the complex ethics of medical care 
in combat zone situations. With their allegiance to both the 
Hippocratic Oath and military guidelines sometimes in conflict how do 
combat doctors decide whom to treat?

"At its most challenging, it can leave physicians like myself and 
other military personnel feeling they're serving two masters: 
Hippocrates and Uncle Sam. The one calls for treating whomever needs 
our help; the other, through the agency of the armed forces, has 
restrictions on whom we can and cannot take under our care."

Which oath would you prefer to be cared for under? Unfortunately, the 
war on drugs has transitioned into the war on patients and now, the 
war on doctors.

Oath: a solemn promise, often invoking a divine witness, regarding 
one's future action or behavior.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom