How Dare the FDA Approve Pain Relief for Kids

How dare they! This senator is disgusted — DISGUSTED — with the FDA’s recent decision to approve the long-acting opiate pain medication OxyContin for children as young as 11. “An 11 year old’s brain has another 14 years before it is fully developed. We have years of evidence that shows that drug use at an early age makes a child more likely to abuse drugs later in life,” he said in his letter to the FDA. “You have ignored all of this. Instead, under your new guidance, we are literally poisoning our children’s brains and setting them up for future drug abuse.” Excuse me, Senator, but this kind of pain medication is much more likely to be used by terminally ill children in hospice care. How dare the FDA broaden the armamentarium for compassionate care at the end of life! How DARE they! See, the 11-year-olds for whom OxyContin is appropriate don’t have another 14 years of brain development. They’re probably lucky if they have 14 weeks. So get off your high horse and STFU. If your grandkid were suffering with a painful terminal illness, I’ll bet you’d be a lot less disgusted and a little more grateful to have every option at the doctor’s disposal.
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs