by Helen Borel

Created on: February 15, 2008

SEVERE PAIN DUE TO DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY:
WHY RADIOLOGISTS DON'T CARE

This is a patient-advocacy distress call about the callousness of today's radiologists (x-ray M.D.s) relative to the new "Digital Mammography" procedure which causes such excessive patient suffering to the point that it amounts to torture. Just why these "physicians" don't feel compelled to prescribe pre-mammography pain-dulling medication will be discussed further on in this report. But first - to put this medical malpractice and medical negligence issue into perspective - it's important for the reader to learn about the history and evolution of pain-relief practices by the medical establishment over the last fifty years.

In my clinical experience, all surgeries and other invasive (going into the body) procedures -as well as noninvasive procedures - known to hurt moderately or to be severely painful have always been preceded by a preoperative or pre-procedure prescription for an anxiolytic (anti-anxiety drug) and/or an analgesic (anti-pain drug). Even in the Emergency Room, the busiest place in most hospitals, when only a suture or two may be needed, we used to spray Ethyl Chloride, a topical (on the skin), short-acting anesthetic to numb the suture site so closure of the wound wouldn't further traumatize the patient with unnecessary additional pain on top of the pain of the initial injury.

Physicians and Registered Nurses have always, for many decades, been acutely attuned to patients' pain levels. And with their - generally - empatic natures and in-depth clinical experience, doctors and nurses have managed to safely prescribe and administer various levels of pain relief - from NSAIDS (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen,to milder narcotics like codeine, to powerful narcotics like meperidine and morphine sulfate, to intravenous conscious sedation drugs such as Versed (R) used for example in colonoscopies, all the way to inhaled or intravenous anesthetia that puts a patient into a temporary unconscious state. Of course, there are also procedures to eliminate pain so the patient can remain completely conscious, such as spinal anesthesia often used for caesarian-delivered childbirths.

Decades ago, when patients had post-surgical pain, one of our chief concerns as RNs and MDs - in addition to those about triggering a narcotic addiction - was that overuse of narcotic medication for pain relief was hazardous to the patient's very life because a chief side effect of all

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