The depth of self-serving arrogance

A recent study of minimally conscious people, using scans to compare the response of normal volunteers and people recovering from PVA,  showed that they feel pain.  Why does such a study merit the wide reach of Medical News Today?

Because, believe it or not, there are actually medical professionals who believe that it is alright to cause untreated pain in patients as long as they have a rhetorical excuse to do so.  In this case, the excuse is that since minimally conscious patients don't report pain in terms that doctors can understand, they must not feel any. Such an assertion is almost academic in its disconnection from the real world.  Unfortunately, medicine is not so disconnected. Such self-serving beliefs cause real suffering for real people.

Vulnerable people can always be treated as non-persons by medicine. But, there is no law of nature requiring medicine to do so. It is truly a shame that we must use all of our technology to force medicine to behave decently.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
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Older People In Pain Receive Relief From Drug-Free Treatments

Mind-body therapies, which focus on the interactions between the mind, body and behavior, and the ways in which emotional, mental, social and behavioral factors can affect health, may be of particular benefit to elderly chronic pain sufferers. A new study published in Pain Medicine provides a structured review of eight mind-body interventions for older people, including progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, hypnosis, tai chi and yoga.

All eight treatments were found to be feasible for older adults, and no adverse events or safety issues were reported. The article finds evidence that, in particular, progressive muscle relaxation may be effective for older people with osteoarthritis pain, while meditation and tai chi appear to improve function and coping with low back pain and osteoarthritis.