Fighting Medical Injustice in North Carolina
/By Michael Harmon, Guest Columnist
I’m writing on behalf of my wife Lynda, a 30-year victim of fibromyalgia. Lynda was hit by a drunk driver in 1985 and despite years of neurological testing and procedures, we were unable to stop this dreaded disease from spreading throughout her body.
By 1993, she was confined to a chair and faced 24/7 pain. Regrettably, the only plausible outcome in her mind was possible suicide, a place many with chronic pain find themselves.
Then we found a doctor willing to prescribe methadone. The medication worked and Lynda was given back a small semblance of life. It was still a very limited lifestyle, but she could occasionally shop, go to dinners, drive and take care of her house.
Two other doctors carried on this fight for the next 20 years, with the same prescription and same dosage. They were years that my daughter and I counted as bonus years, given the dark periods of the early 1990’s.
Then the CDC got involved with its 2016 guideline establishing voluntary, not mandatory, amounts allowed for opioid prescriptions. The guideline led to forced tapering of patients, and penal sanctions and revocation of medical licenses for doctors found to be non-compliant with the new “standard of care.”
LYNDA HARMON
In 2018, Lynda’s pain doctor started the tapering protocol, and immediately we saw her tailspin into a dark depression. She knew what was coming! Her methadone dosage was cut to about 15-20% of her normal prescription levels of the past 25 years.
By early 2019 she was once again in a chair, rocking in pain, 24/7. And yes, suicide was once again on the table. But hey, the government was happy, the politicians were happy, and her doctor wasn’t going to lose her livelihood!
Befriending Dr. Thomas Kline
I met Dr Thomas Kline in February of 2019 after reading an article he wrote that chronicles in detail over 30 pain patients who took their lives as a result of being tapered. I befriended this “true healer” and wanted to help him bring awareness of this injustice any way I could.
After 6 months of talking and working on these issues, Dr. Kline asked me one day if he could help Lynda. I knew he was not taking patients and I never asked him to help Lynda, I just wanted to help him bring light to this terrible problem.
Dr. Kline met Lynda in August and after lengthy interviews, examinations and medical testing, Lynda switched her pain care to Dr. Kline. We were delighted!
DR. THOMAS KLINE
The protocol of methadone was slowly and professionally raised each month, and by January 2020 Lynda’s mood lifted. Thoughts of suicide disappeared, and movement of her extremities became easier and free of pain. You could tell her life was being returned to her.
Then came the news of last Monday, February 17 that Dr. Kline was under investigation by the North Carolina Medical Board.
He was told to surrender his DEA license, which means he can no longer prescribe opioid medication. All 34 of his patients were left in limbo, basically thrown to the wolves.
Who could do such a thing? Is this truly a medical board of doctors who made an oath to alleviate pain and suffering? Tell me, what are these 34 patients supposed to do? No doctor will take their case, for fear of losing their own livelihood.
Lynda has only a few days left of her last prescription, as she was due to pick up her monthly meds last Tuesday, the day after receiving the news of Dr. Kline’s suspension. This type of oversight is inhumane and should have no place in a modern society. I would argue that we treat our pets better than this!
Now don’t get me wrong, I am fully supportive of the President’s effort to fight the opioid crisis on the streets of America, on our borders, internationally and in hospitals. I agree wholeheartedly to the jailing of doctors that write scripts to bogus patients who profit from the sale of the drugs on the street. This is abhorrent.
But the people we are talking about, people like my wife, have been on these medical protocols for chronic pain for 10, 20 and 30 years plus! They are functioning citizens of our society. These people have mortgages, car payments, and children in college. How are they going to work without the medicines needed to overcome their daily pain?
Some are military veterans who were busted up and blown up, defending our freedom. One veteran commenting on the tapering of his pain meds was recently quoted as saying, “Once again my country has asked me to lay down my life!”
Lynda and I consulted with three doctors last week, doctors of the highest repute, and each of them had no answer to this horrible matter. How can this be?
Perhaps Dr. Kline’s DEA license will be reinstated, maybe not. Life will go on for this kind man and perhaps he will begin to enjoy the retirement he had seen for himself and his family when he moved to Raleigh. For that I am happy. This truly is a doctor who cares, and cares enough to push the limits in order to help improve the human condition.
But what about his 34 patients? What about other patients around the country who, like Lynda, are on the threshold of suicide? What are they going to do? They no longer have a Dr. Kline in their lives or a government that cares. If they did care, they would not be investigating a great doctor like Dr. Kline. They'd be empowering him and others to get in the middle of this injustice and fix it!
Michael and Lynda Harmon live in South Carolina.
Pain News Network invites other readers to share their stories with us. Send them to: editor@PainNewsNetwork.org.
