Pain is one of the most common reasons that people end up in the doctor’s office. And yet, until 1983, the field of pain management did not have its own medical society; today, the specialty still isn’t widely taught in medical schools. For centuries, doctors even debated whether eliminating pain was morally acceptable: would it, for instance, defeat God’s purpose in condemning Eve’s daughters to suffer in childbirth?
Decisions about a patient’s pain treatment are now made much more collaboratively, but even in modern times, the process is fraught with moral judgment, stemming largely from the nature of available pain treatments and an incomplete understanding of how to use them. Patients who ask for more pain drugs are eyed as potential addicts; doctors who prescribe pain medications too frequently fear being arrested for it.
