REPORTED BY
NORMAN J CLEMENT RPH., DDS, NORMAN L.CLEMENT PHARM-TECH, MALACHI F. MACKANDAL PHARMD, BELINDA BROWN-PARKER, IN THE SPIRIT OF JOSEPH SOLVO ESQ., IN THE SPIRIT OF REV. C.T. VIVIAN, JELANI ZIMBABWE CLEMENT, BS., MBA., IN THE SPIRIT OF THE HON. PATRICE LUMUMBA, IN THE SPIRIT OF ERLIN CLEMENT SR., WALTER F. WRENN III., MD., JULIE KILLINGWORTH, WILLIE GUINYARD BS., JOSEPH WEBSTER MD., MBA, BEVERLY C. PRINCE MD., FACS., RICHARD KAUL, MD., LEROY BAYLOR, JAY K. JOSHI MD., MBA, ADRIENNE EDMUNDSON, ESTER HYATT PH.D., WALTER L. SMITH BS., IN THE SPIRIT OF BRAHM FISHER ESQ., MICHELE ALEXANDER MD., CUDJOE WILDING BS, MARTIN NDJOU, BS., RPH., IN THE SPIRIT OF DEBRA LYNN SHEPHERD, BERES E. MUSCHETT, STRATEGIC ADVISORS
American Medical Association July 22, 2021:
“We know that this has harmed patients with cancer, sickle cell disease, and those in hospice. The restrictive policies also fail patients who are stable on long-term opioid therapy.”
BY
We owe a great debt of this article to the works of:
Adrienne Kincaid, Glinda Dames-Fincher, MT(ASCP)
Volunteer Medical Adviser
Kincaid’s Kindred Spirits, IncAdult Sickle Cell Support Group 501(c)(3) non-profithttp://www.kks4scd.org
Please Donate Blood.https://www.redcrossblood.or
THE SICKLE CELL OPIOID GUIDELINE IS A MEDICAL TRAGEDY ON THE SCALE OF TUSKEGEE EXPERIMENTS THAT HAS LED TO NEEDLESS SUFFERING AND DEATHS
The CDC opioid guideline represents a classical failure of medicinesimilar to that of the Tuskegee Studies administered by the United States Department of public health which affected sickle cell disease pain treatment around the world.
SICKLE CELL DISEASE OR DRUG DEALERS: TORONTO CANADA (see below links)
a) ‘https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/iframe/593482582001/SyxzIeNcgb/6234291340001?auto_play_switch
b) https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2226104&jwsource=em
In this case, the 2016 one size fits all 90MME Opioid dosages excluded and fail to take into consideration patients suffering pain from chronic genetic disease orders such as sickle cell and terminal cancer.
THE CRIMINALIZATION OF SICKLE CELL PAIN TREATMENT
We see this medical tragedy as Center For Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of Minority Health (CMS) not only adopted the CDC flawed guidelines but identified its authors which are for all intense purposes (exception of the AMA) the same culprits on the current Opioid Working Group and or the CDC’s Board of Scientific Counselors. In essence, these patients were receiving care one day and became criminal junkies diverting medications the next day and targetted by the DEA.
Coupled with the practice of the “uncomfortable pharmacist” in withholding treatment of a patient by altering or denying medications is both dangerous and unacceptable in the field of medicine and this aberrant irresponsibility has produced one uncomfortable fact: patients’ suicide.
WHAT IS SICKLE CELL DISEASE
Sickle Cell Disease is a term used to describe a group of inherited disorders that involve an abnormal hemoglobin molecule in the red blood cells, called hemoglobin S (HbS). Hemoglobin is the substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen.
Sickle Cell Disease is a major public health concern according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Each year in the US an average of 75,000 hospitalizations are due to Sickle Cell Disease. The total cost for treating Sickle Cell in the US is about $1.6 billion.
Sickle Cell Anemia is a disease characterized by chronic severe anemia, episodes of severe painful crises that last hours, or days, or weeks, and may cause organ damage, and eventually death.
Sickle Cell Disease is most prevalent in those of African, Mediterranean and In- Indian origins. A large number of Sickle Cell patients are found in Sub-Saharan Africa, India, South America, Central America, Cuba, Caribbean Islands, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Sicily, Southern Italy, and Greece.
In the U.S., SCD affects approximately 100,000 people. One in 400-500 African- Americans and one in 1,000-4,000 Latinx- Americans has the disease. More than 2 million people in the U.S. carry the Sickle gene that allows them to pass it on to their children (Sickle Cell Trait).
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/evidence-based-management-sickle-cell-disease
BLOOD CELLS
The main function of red blood cells is to carry oxygen from the lungs to all parts
of the body and release the oxygen to the tissues of the body. Normal red cells are round with an indented center and very flexible, so they can move freely through the smallest blood vessels (capillaries). In Sickle Cell Anemia, due to the abnormal hemoglobin, red blood cells cannot carry oxygen very well.
The cells become sickle-shaped or pointed, rigid, sticky, and brittle. These abnormal red cells cannot move freely through the blood vessels; they stick together and block the blood vessels. Therefore, Sickle Cells cannot supply oxygen to the tissues properly.
The result is tissue damage and possibly tissue death (ischemia). This process causes extreme pain, called Sickle Cell Crisis.
The following problems may be caused by this lack of oxygen supply to the tissue: Stroke, Kidney Failure, Liver Damage and Gallstones, Heart Muscle Damage, Congestive Heart Failure, and Heart Attack, Spleen Damage, Lung Damage, Pneumonia, Blindness, Damage to Joints including Arthritis, Infection, and Collapse of Hip and Shoulder Joints, Priapism (sustained erection of the penis) and Sterility, Chronic Skin Ulcerations of the Lower Limbs, Delayed Puberty and Crib Death.
“Opioid Prescriptions: Disparities and Realities”
Dr Wally Smith is a well-known internal medicine physician in Virginia who treats sickle cell patients and is training others, including hematologists, on the proper treatment of the disease. He is a big advocate for proper treatment of our pain and to end other disparities in our care. He will also be on the national SCDAA convention schedule. He does many webinars which are audio recorded on the California Sickle Cell Resources site. This link is to his webinar “Opioid Prescriptions: Disparities and Realities” and I have attached the slide presentation file.
https://casicklecell.org/webinar11/
FOR NOW, YOU ARE WITHIN
THE NORMS
Thank you Dr Norman J Clement for including Sickle Cell Disease in your advocacy for proper pain management. You’re a Blessing!