Into The Vault: Dr. No Pain

As promised here is the article in it's entirety. You should check out the Banner website. Thebannercsi.wordpress.com Vin Forte posted some funny stuff today.

So with that I give you, Dr. No Pain, M.D.

Dr. No Pain, M.D.

Prescription Drug Abuse is just a doctor’s visit away

By Ian K Feldman

As of 2008, 6.2 million Americans were reported for prescription drug abuse. Combine that with the high volume of controlled prescriptions written by Staten Island doctors and it raises the question: Who needs a drug dealer when you have your friendly neighborhood physician?

The 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which was released September 2009, reported that 2.5% or 6.2 million Americans over the age of 12 had used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons. Of those prescriptions, 1.9% were classified as opiate painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin. With all of the prescription drug abuse cases that have occurred in Staten Island, the accessibility of these drugs concerns doctors and pharmacists alike.

Marissa Maurino, a Physician Assistant in the Pain Management Center at the Health Care Associates of New York Medicine, writes about 8-10 prescriptions for painkillers daily.

“I treat a lot of young people who come here after seeing their primary doctor,” said Maurino. “It should not be left in the hands of the primary doctor to decide to give the patient these drugs but should be left for pain management to make that decision.”

Pain management centers like Health Care Associates take certain measures to attempt to prevent prescription drug abuse. They include urine toxicology report before medicine can be dispensed. Other methods of prescription drug abuse prevention include the push for physical therapy, exercise, psychological evaluations and non-controlled anti-inflammatory prescriptions.

Many of the patients that are sent to a pain management center have already become addicted to painkillers because of their primary doctors. This makes things tougher for pain management clinics as they struggle to find ways to wean patients off the medications. “Unfortunately, some doctors want to get rid of the patient and their complaining, so they’ll just write the prescription,” said Dr. Maurino.

Dr. Ramachandran Nair, a doctor who specializes in infectious diseases at the Staten Island Medical Center told a slightly different story.

“Teens and gangsters are stealing it from the parents,” said Dr. Nair. When the doctor sees patient, it’s a one to one thing and the doctor is not responsible whether or not the patient chooses to take the medicine.”

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) keeps records of every prescription written by every doctor and the DEA deserves every right to investigate a doctor if suspicious activity is suspected. A statement, which proves that the doctor is partially responsible for the patient’s decisions and can result in serious consequences for a physician.

Dr. Mathew Mani, an internist at Heartland Medical Center, refuses to write controlled prescriptions for his patients. “You want my honest opinion,” said Dr. Mani, “They should ban it all together like marijuana and cocaine.” The value of prescription drugs on the streets don’t compare to other illicit drugs. “On the street, Oxycontin goes for about $50 a pill and Vicodin is about $10 to $20,” said Dr. Mani. “One bottle of Oxycontin is equal to five joints of marijuana.”

Pharmacists are concerned about the accessibility of these prescription drugs. Chain pharmacies, such as Walgreens, CVS, and Rite-Aid and private pharmacies try their best to prevent prescription drug abuse.

Peter Sabados, a pharmacist who owns Woodrow Pharmacy in Rossville, comes across 15-20 controlled prescriptions a day in his pharmacy. “This is definitely an issue and we constantly have to investigate it,” said Sabados. Woodrow Pharmacy runs into problems with fake prescriptions four-five times a week, with most of the people being males between the ages of 18 to 30.

One step, which seeks to limit prescription drug abuse, requires all scripts, including non-controls, to require a bar code that must be scanned. This would help prevent the over-prescribing of controlled medications. Some doctors deem that insufficient.

“We try our best to prevent these problems,” said Sabados. “You have to make your own judgments when filling these prescriptions.”

The 2008 NSDUH shows a slight decrease from the 2007 report, which concluded that 6.9 million Americans abused prescription drugs. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, (SAMHSA) predicts that the number will not stay down for long and the DEA must take further actions to put a stop on this crime.

“[We] as a whole [have] to be careful when writing, filling and taking prescriptions,” said Dr. Maurino. “We all share the responsibilities of this issue and must remain aware of it.”

Doctor Learned His Lesson
Doctors have to be aware when they write controlled prescriptions because if they are not careful then they could run into trouble with the law. Just ask infectious disease specialist, Dr. Ramachandran Nair.

Dr. Nair happened to practice internal medicine until August 2003, when he was arrested and charged for selling a controlled prescription to an undercover DEA agent. As a result, Dr. Nair’s license was suspended for a total of three years and could not practice internal medicine.

Dr. Nair is not the only doctor that has been guilty of this crime and the DEA has been trying to keep a tighter grip on these physicians.

Six years later, you can find Dr. Nair, who practices in his office at the Staten Island Medical Center, doing what he loves best. However, he has remained wise when it comes to prescribing medications. “It’s all about keeping proper record keeping,” said Dr. Nair.

This has been Ian Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Finallly, Dr. No Pain Is Here

This is the one that article a lot of people have been wanting to read since April and due to the constant pushbacks at the Banner it's finally here. I'm posting the link to the first issue, which is only online as of now. I also make a second appearance in the editorial. You should also check out the rest of the issue to. Brilliant front page articles from James Plunkett and John Adrian.

Anyway click on the link below.

The Banner - issue 1

I'll be posting the article in full on a special edition of Into The Vault.

This has been Ian Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

How Sweet It Is: Jewish Culture Thrives On Staten Island.

As we get ready to welcome in the year 5770 tonight, I feel it appropriate to mention that on an island, where a majority of the population is Italian-Americans, Jewish culture still manages to flourish and draws interest from people within and outside the Jewish faith.

Although, Staten Island's Jewish population is quite small compared to the other boroughs, we're still seeing Jewish culture thrive mainly due to the various clubs and organizations that are geared to the Jewish Youth of Staten Island. The Jewish Community Center and the College of Staten Island's Hillel Chapter have done a great job in attracting youths to their programs and not only teens of the Jewish faith. There are many students, who are members of Hillel that are not Jewish, but have taken an interest in learning about our culture and that's a beautiful thing. I have friends who have gone to visit Israel and they tell me that it's an experience like no other. I'm hoping to make a visit to Israel soon because I would like to get a chance to experience it myself.

The Jewish religion and culture is a wonderful thing to learn about. Although I don't encourage anyone to drop their faith for another, I feel that everyone should be entitled to experience the cultural aspects of other religions. I don't want to go to deep into religious aspects, but I will say that the Jewish religion in a lot of ways echoes the ideas of existentialism. The Jewish faith often comes together to make life decisions and we often choose to live in the moment. For a religion, who has often been found to be victim of persecution and slavery, you would find it hard to believe that most people in Tel Aviv spending their nights partying and having a grand old time. Even outside of Israel, we see a tight bond between the Jewish faith. There appears to be a great balance between the relationship within our faith and our relationship with other worldly religions. We really enjoy the fact that our culture is still in existence today and although we like to share with everyone else, we won't go out of our way to do it. As I mentioned earlier, Jewish culture provides a wonderful experience for those who encounter it and if you've had little or no exposure to it then I suggest you take a look.

This has been Yechiel Akiva speaking words of wisdom.

A Show About Nothing: Unscripted

This news has been floating around for a while, but as the season 7 premiere of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" comes closer, it's exciting for me to announce that the entire cast of Seinfeld will be uniting on TV together for the first time in twelve years. Oh and the best part is there's no script this time so god knows what we're going to hear. I got a chance to check out a special feature on HBO about the upcoming season of Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and let me just say that it exceeded my expectation. First of all, they've pulled the original sets of Jerry's apartment and the diner from the original show. They even gave the apartment a updated 2000 look. Second, Larry David pretty much brought back the entire cast and crew, including Newman and George Parent's. Honestly, when I first heard the idea I though Larry was going to give us the idea of what it was like making the show back then. However, it seems like he'll be taking the Clerks route and re-examine these characters a decade after we last saw them. As always Curb Your Enthusiasm will give us another hilarious season and if you're a Seinfeld, then I really think you're going to be in for a special treat. If you're not a fan, you should still check out "Curb Your Enthusiasm" because it's a riot and has a great cast of talented actors and comedians.



And for those of you, who don't know much about Curb, here's the one and only Susie Essman, showing us how a proper, Jewish woman speaks.



This has been Art Vanderlay speaking words of wisdom.

Seems Like All We Really Were Doing...

Sometimes people find a way to put a deep impact on society and when their time has come and gone, they usually are remembered as a legend of their time. When John, Paul, George, and their new drummer Ringo first began playing small gigs throughout Europe, I don't think any of them ever imagined the success and impact that they would have on the rest of the world. The lifespan of the Beatles lasted from 1962-1970, which compared to many other breakthrough rock groups was a pretty short time frame. However,during that time The Beatles released 18 U.S. studio albums and 13 U.K Albums and garnered 70 hits on the Hot 100 billboard charts.

Yet, almost 40 years after The Beatles disbanded they still remain one of the most popular and widely appreciated music groups of the 20th century. Many musicians cite the Beatles as a major inspiration to their music and the hype over yesterday's releases of Beatles' Rock Band and the digitally remastered Beatles song catalog shows that Beatlemania, while not strong, is still breathing steadily. As a die hard Beatles fan, I sometimes have to ask why is that? The Beatles never put on a concert like Led Zeppelin or Queen. Although he definitely had the capability, George never tried to wing a sick guitar solo like Clapton and Jimmy Page. Ringo's only recorded drum solo during his career the Beatles is the end of the Golden Slumbers Suite on Abbey Road. If that's the case, then why are the Beatles still making an impact on the world long after their inevitable breakup? It's because of us, the fans.



I sometimes wonder what it must feel for Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to wake up knowing that they probably have the greatest fan base we have ever seen. When the Beatles played at Shea Stadium in 1965, most bands would consider that to be their big break. However, for the Beatles that concert established them as legends and it would serve as a major pivotal point for them. The Beatles had already achieved the hard part,which was to make an impact on the United States. After that it was really the fans, who took over on the impact that the Beatles would have on the rest of the world. As the Beatles moved away from the touring scene and went into the studio, the fans began having an even greater impact on the Beatles popularity. Even when people started burning Beatles albums after misinterpreting a quote from John Lennon, which implied the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, was short lived after Lennon's explanation. The truth is we still care about the Beatles long after they ever did. Of course, when you look at the success of the Beatles, you have to acknowledge that they had perfect timing from the day Ringo replaced Pete until the day it was announced that the Beatles have officially disbanded. It's easy to think of the Beatles success as the process of metamorphosis. The Beatles managed to evolve and transform as time went on and in the end, they went out just like they came in. However, as long as we have the fans, who remind us of the impact the Beatles have left on us, then the Beatles will continue to prosper and grow, not just as legends, but as a cultural pinpoint of modern society.

This has been Ian Feldman speaking words of wisdom... Let It be