Impact Of Litigation On Treatment Outcomes

HISOTRY OF PRESENT ILLNESS: This 40-year-old Latin female presents with complaints of low back and right leg pain she said that she hurt her back in a motor vehicle accident three years ago and she has had a history of intermittent low back pain since that time. Last December she started a job where she had to lift boxes that weighed approximately 40 pounds. Around the first of January this year she began to complain of back pain that

A visit note from Gregory Carico, MD (Internal Medicine), dated 01/23/2017, indicated that the claimant presented with a history of depression. She was involved in a motor vehicle accident on December 9th. She was relieved from work duties from 12/09 to 01/04 and was able to return to work on 01/10. She was again off work on 01/12 for therapy. She had pain in the thoracic part of the back and lower neck to middle back. She was diagnosed with a sprain of ligaments of the thoracic spine. An

Persistent pain has psychological and social implications for daily life. It can severely limit an individual’s ability to work and be a productive member of society and decreases quality of life. In the face of increasing stigma and barriers to care, patients are struggling to procure the legal medications that alleviate their debilitating pain.

The patient that I have chosen for my diagnostic reasoning paper is a 47-year-ol-Hispanic female. The presenting problem that I have chosen to use as my patient’s chief complaint is back pain. The only other clues that I have to use in order to help narrow my focus is that she is a female, she is 47-years-old, and she is Hispanic. I do not know how long she has been experiencing pain or how severe her pain is. Given these parameters, I will “cast a wide net” as I evaluate my patient and create my list of differential diagnoses.

Murray J. McAllister created this website because he had concerns for how chronic pain was being understood and managed in the current healthcare system. There is no uniform or consistency in how chronic pain is being treated among healthcare providers. Many providers also correlate chronic pain to a previous orthopedic injury and not from a nervous system related condition. This poses many concerns

The x-rays of Plaintiff’s spine showed normal alignment, no swelling, no fracture or dislocation and normal lordosis of the cervical and lumbar spine. Plaintiff’s left knee x-ray also showed no fracture or dislocation, but moderate decrease in the meduial articular joint space. Plaintiff was given a general diagnosis of neck pain, back pain, low back pain and left knee pain. Plaintiff was prescribed 3 sessions per week for 6 weeks of physical therapy.

Chronic Pain is described as a long lasting pain that people experience beyond a normal healing time (Hasenbring, Rusu & Turk, 2012). This time is usually up to three or six months prior to an incident (Hasenbring, Rusu & Turk, 2012). Chronic back pain can include common diagnosis of muscle spasms, back strain, or myofasical syndrome (Weiner & Nordin, 2010). There are three different types of chronic back pain; simple musculoskeletal back pain, spinal nerve root pain and serious spinal pathology (Jackson & Simpson, 2006). (Hasenbring, 2012)

Many of Americans have been diagnosed with chronic pain. In fact according to the Institute of Medicine 116 million United States adults live with chronic pain. The majority of these adults do not seem to receive the adequate treatment needed to help them to cope or to treat their pain. This is primarily due to the physicians not being able to efficiently diagnose their patients, and or the physicians lack the knowledge of the best ways to help manage the pain their patients are experiencing. This is why most people believe that Physicians are the main cause for the rise of prescription drug abuse (Garcia, 2013).

‘A long-term condition (LTC) is one that cannot currently be cured but can be controlled with the use of medication and/or other therapies’ (Department of Health, 2010). It is a condition of prolonged duration that may affect any aspect of any person’s life with symptoms coming and going but there is no cure (Long Term Medical Conditions Alliance (LMCA), 2007). Long-term pain has been reported to impact 70% of the population’s work ability, 80% of home life and 83% of the ability to take part in leisure activities (Patient and Client Council, 2014). There are currently 15.4 million people in England with a LTC, of which accounts for more than 50% of all GP appointments, 65% of all outpatient appointments and more than 70% of all inpatient bed days (Department of Health, 2010). Long-term pain is commonly known as chronic pain (British Pain Society, 2010).

Chronic Pain is an interesting problem in society today. The exact cause of Chronic Pain is not the same in every patient. In fact most patients present with different symptoms and associated pathologies, such as the strong link with depression. Treatment of Chronic Pain is often performed a single practitioner whether that be a Medical Doctor, Chiropractor, Nutritionist, or an alternative health care professional. Chronic Pain is often extremely complex, because of this treatment needs to be multidimensional. Effective care of Chronic Pain requires the collective cooperation of health care professionals

Just about everybody feel pain every now and then. It is just our body trying to tell us something is erroneous and need our instantaneous attention. Pain is a bodily and emotional experience. However, while acute pain is the hostile sensation triggered in the nervous system occasioning from injury or health condition, chronic pain continue and is resistant to maximum medical treatments. In spite of the toll chronic pain takes, it has not always been well understood. Medical doctors used to believe that pain was always an indication of an underlying injury or sickness and not an actual syndrome itself. However, the medical community is starting to comprehend that if pain is no longer a function of a healthy nervous system, the chronic pain itself becomes a concern. Many believed that by treating the reason of the pain, the chronic pain should draw back once the injury or disease was treated.

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” (1979). Pain is actually the culprit behind warranting a visit to a physician office for many people (Besson, 1999). Notoriously unpleasant, pain could also pose a threat as both a psychological and economic burden (Phillips, 2006). Sometimes pain does happen without any damage of tissue or any likely diseased state. The reasons for such pain are poorly understood and the term used to describe such type of pain is “psychogenic pain”. Also, the loss of productivity and daily activity due to pain is also significant. Pain engulfs a trillion dollars of GDP for lost work time and disability payments (Melnikova, 2010). Untreated pain not only impacts a person suffering from pain but also impacts their whole family. A person’s quality of life is negatively impacted by pain and it diminishes their ability to concentrate, work, exercise, socialize, perform daily routines, and sleep. All of these negative impacts ultimately lead to much more severe behavioral effects such as depression, aggression, mood alterations, isolation, and loss of self-esteem, which pose a great threat to human society.

This paper is going to talk about how to deal with chronic pain. First of all, this paper will explain what chronic pain means by providing the foremost chronic pain encountered in life such as low back, joints, or other kinds. Next, this paper will cover why it is important to address conditions related to chronic pain, and will explore methods and strategies showing how to cope with continuing pain. Finally, this paper will share some predictable outcomes and a conclusion.

Pain is a basic mechanism in life that helps the body identify that something is wrong or dangerous. Without pain, the body would be severely damaged without realizing it. Pain can become an inconvenience when it spirals out of control; chronic pain, for example, leaves many miserable and unable to enjoy life to its fullest extent even with traditional medical intervention. Around 80% of people report chronic pain in their lifetime (Holtzman & Beggs, 2013). People afflicted by chronic back pain turn to modern medicine for relief, but even these alternatives are not always 100% effective.