Pain Clinics: Grand Jury Report Deceptive

VENICE, Fla., July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- A thirty one page research report released today by the Florida Society of Pain Management Providers, available online at www.FLPainNews.com, challenges many of the purported factual findings of the Broward County Florida Grand Jury Report on Pain Clinics (released on November 19, 2009).  The result is a document which is factually deceptive and what is left contains far more innuendo than fact. The Grand Jury, convened in the spring of 2009 by Michael J. Satz, State Attorney for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, to study the "proliferation of pain clinics in South Florida" was substantially influenced by special interest groups. The purpose of these groups appears to have been to influence legislation and governmental agencies in the development of rules that would regulate their field.

The research report details how the "The Grand Jury Report is ultimately an embarrassment of monumental proportions because of the slanted, biased, and misleading testimony by 'pain medicine specialists' and the complete lack of any law enforcement data or statistics," says Paul Sloan, Director of Florida Society of Pain Management Providers and author of a special report, entitled, The Omissions, Misrepresentations, and Deceptions as Reported in the Interim Report of the Broward County Grand Jury.  "In many cases, what the report states as facts, are in most cases anything but. This Grand Jury Report becomes just another example of why most jurisdictions in the United States have abolished this medieval process."    

The special report, compiled and submitted by Paul Sloan, began as research for a series of submissions to the Florida Board of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine when those boards were conducting rules workshops for pain clinics.  Mr. Sloan noticed that the assertions being cited by two professional medical societies with mutual members and interests were not based on any known facts.  A review of the testimony and the assertions that found their way into the Grand Jury Report evidenced a well organized and orchestrated scheme to influence both the workshops and legislation. The desired effect: create a monopoly in their specialty field.

Members of the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists (FSA) and the Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (FSIPP) have attended the joint medical board's workshops in and have spoken directly to their desire to eliminate non-board certified pain medicine physicians from the specialty field. As evidenced in the special report, it was recently revealed that these societies' members (some in public positions) have also been manipulating county zoning ordinances to drive out non-board certified physicians. These actions are concerning on both ethical and legal grounds.    

One of the findings, which was recently uncovered by Mr. Sloan, contrary to nearly all testimony on the subject, is that there are only 204 board certified pain physicians currently practicing in the State of Florida. The societies' desire to drive out all others from this field, if successful, will be at the expense and detriment to the 18,500,000 citizens, especially the uninsured and under-insured (Medicaid) whose access to pain care will be severely restricted.

It is unfortunate that many well-educated and respected individuals believe that Grand Juries are a legitimate and ethical institution and in return accept their reports as the unquestionable fact when in fact they are easily manipulated by those with an agenda.  

The Special Report is available online at www.FLPainNews.com

SOURCE Florida Society of Pain Management Providers