Human Rights Watch to start investigation into how pain patients treated in U.S. and the need for the same in Canada

Author: Barry D. Ulmer, Executive Director The Chronic Pain Association of Canada

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in the U.S. is starting an investigation into the way people with pain in that country are being treated.

They started their efforts in the United States when researchers from HRW were studying the treatment of cancer and palliative care patients and saw how poorly pain was treated as a human rights issue. They found people were giving testimony much the same as those who were victims of police torture. They readily admitted this was an issue that no one was really paying attention to. When they started looking into the situation  more closely they found that many chronic pain patients who had been on opiates were being taken off them arbitrarily and could not find any other physician who would look after them. People were living in agony and dying, either by suicide or taking illegal drugs purchased on the street.

This past Sunday the Director of Health and Human Rights for HRW was a guest on the Roy Green Show. He indicated that they were not planning to do something in Canada, but would possibly mention in their final report in the U.S. that the situation in Canada is just as dire. He indicated Canada only had a small office in Toronto and that the U.S. office in New York would be the one who would be the lead in any effort in Canada.

​We don’t think this is acceptable as the Canadian office does generate some substantial funds for their services, and Canadians are suffering as much as the Americans due to the ridiculous policies that have come from the biased and unscientific guidelines of the CDC. If we can generate enough interest in having HRW do something in Canada, it would be very beneficial to many people.

People can contact the HRW office in Toronto and New York, tell them their stories and ask them to do launch a similar investigation into the rights of pain patients in Canada. 

In Toronto, the contact is Farida Deif at canada@hrw.org, or www.hrw.org/contact-our-office-Toronto, In New York the contact is Diederik Lohman at lohmand@hrw.org.