A wolf in sheep’s clothing

A wolf in sheep’s clothing

Watch your wallets, folks: Every time you kick in a few bucks to a charity or foundation that CLAIMS to represent patients or fight disease, you’re really just giving your cash to Big Pharma.

And yes, they’re laughing — all the way to the bank.

Here’s the latest: The American Pain Foundation, which claims to represent patients battling chronic pain, actually gets almost 90 percent of its $5 million budget from the companies that make painkillers and medical devices, according to a ProPublica investigation.

And in exchange for that money, this group aggressively lobbies for industry-friendly laws — even fighting against a simple push to educate docs who prescribe opioid painkillers.

In another case, they actually went to court to DEFEND a doctor who was accused of giving more than 500,000 painkillers to a single patient over three years — including 1,600 pills in a single day.

How could you possibly defend that???

This “foundation” also publishes a series of laughably inaccurate guides for patients, policy makers, and the media — guides that claim, for example, that opioid painkillers aren’t very addictive.

Even the group’s president, Dr. Scott Fishman, admits that’s not true, telling ProPublica that opioids are both addictive and overused (he quit right after that confession, by the way).

Here’s a fact that must pain this Pain Foundation: Not only are these drugs highly addictive, but some studies have shown that up to 40 percent of the patients who take them for chronic pain end up hooked.

And most of them end up battling the same pain — or worse — even as they turn into pill-popping junkies.

That’s not a cure… that’s a crime.

For the record, the American Pain Foundation is hardly alone here — most medical charities either take Big Pharma bucks or deliver your donations right to the drug companies and claim they’re funding research.

It might feel cold or even cruel, but don’t give a red cent to any of these groups unless you know EXACTLY where it’s going.

source: http://douglassreport.com/2012/01/25/wolf-in-sheeps-clothing/