# Pain Meds Banned for Vapers (Kentucky)



## Hooked (12/8/20)

https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/news/vaping-news/2020-08-11_pain-meds-banned-for-vapers.html
11 Aug. 2020

"The Orthopaedic Institute Pain Management Centre of Western Kentucky (OIPMC) has informed its patients that it is going to refuse medication to anyone using any nicotine products. This means vapers, smokers, and people trying to quit smoking using NRT products will be denied pain management. The decision conflicts with research that says nicotine can be beneficial.
The OIPMC provides care for total joint reconstruction, shoulder & knee, hand and wrist, sports medicine/arthroscopy, back and neck, foot and ankle and general orthopaedics.

The centre claims to deliver “exceptional care” as part of its “premier rehabilitation specialist” service – a service that is “unsurpassed” and result in patients “consistently providing us with the highest marks in patient satisfaction and overall medical experience.”

They provide “the highest quality care to every patient”, “through an understanding of each individual patient's problem and applying the latest in medical advances and technology toward obtaining the goal of full recovery”.

“We consider our patients as members of our extended family.”

Well, unless you happen to be a member of the OIPMC family who happens to have quit smoking by using NRT products or vaping, because then they don’t want to know you.
A letter sent from the centre’s Doctor John T Ruxer informed current patients: “We at the Orthopaedic Institute Pain Management Centre of Western Kentucky have a no-nicotine policy. If you are currently a smoker or using any nicotine products (chewing tobacco, nicotine gum, and nicotine patches, etc..) and we are treating you with opioid medication, you will be given 6 months to be completely nicotine free or we will no longer prescribe your opioid medication. This policy is based on our stance that the use of nicotine products greatly affects you overall pain status. In addition, nicotine disrupts your pain cycle and limits the effectiveness of medication.”

Patients have been given the option to sign and return the letter immediately or promise to quit all nicotine products within 6 months.

While it may seem reasonable to ask patients to quit using nicotine products if they inhibit a successful treatment and recovery, the claims made by Ruxer lie at odds with other research.

In 2014, Doctor Pamela Flood, Department of Pharmacology at Virginia Commonwealth University, wrote an article titled “Nicotine Is Out - Nicotinic Agonists May Have Utility as Analgesics” for the Anethesia & Analgesia journal.

In her piece, Flood detailed a meta-analysis by Mishriky and Habib, including 9 double-blind randomised trials, that evaluated the analgesic efficacy of nicotine for acute postoperative pain. The authors concluded that administering nicotine at or around the time of an operation was linked to “a statistically significant reduction” in opioid use afterwards – “and a statistically insignificant reduction in pain scores 24 hours after surgery”.

Reactions: Like 2 | Informative 5


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## DavyH (12/8/20)

‘First do no harm’.

Report them to the AMA and sue them with ACLU support. They won’t be withholding anything once they go out of business. Class actions can be very costly to the losing defendant.

Reactions: Like 4 | Agree 2 | Informative 1


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## Stew (12/8/20)

I say this under correction, but 40+ Odd years ago my wife's had a friend who's husband needed a heart transplant here in South Africa and they refused to do the heart transplant unless he stopped smoking, so I don't think the threat of stopping smoking or be refused medical treatment is new. (He did in fact did die of his heart condition.) I may have not got the details fully as it was a long time ago but the gist of the matter is the same. As a smoker / vaper one can see some logic as well. A heart or body organ is a valuable resource and to use that resource on someone that is going to carry on with a habit that will waste it is futile compared to giving it to someone that does not wish to potentially waste the resource.

Reactions: Like 3 | Agree 2


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## Hooked (13/8/20)

Stew said:


> I say this under correction, but 40+ Odd years ago a friend of my wife's husband needed a heart transplant here in South Africa and they refused to do the heart transplant unless he stopped smoking, so I don't think the threat of stopping smoking or be refused medical treatment is new. (He did in fact did die of his heart condition.) I may have not got the details fully as it was a long time ago but the gist of the matter is the same. As a smoker / vaper one can see some logic as well. A heart or body organ is a valuable resource and to use that resource on someone that is going to carry on with a habit that will waste it is futile compared to giving it to someone that does not wish to potentially waste the resource.




@Stew "a friend of my wife's husband" confused me greatly. I assume that you are your wife's husband, so then it's your friend, isn't it?

I agree that a heart or lung transplant would be wasted on a smoker, although I do not agree that it would be wasted on a vaper.

In addition, the above article states that they refuse pain medication to any smoker or vaper - not that they refuse the orthopaedic procedure. I think it's unacceptable to refuse someone pain medication.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 3 | Funny 3


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## Stew (13/8/20)

Hooked said:


> @Stew "a friend of my wife's husband" confused me greatly. I assume that you are your wife's husband, so then it's your friend, isn't it?
> 
> I agree that a heart or lung transplant would be wasted on a smoker, although I do not agree that it would be wasted on a vaper.
> 
> In addition, the above article states that they refuse pain medication to any smoker or vaper - not that they refuse the orthopaedic procedure. I think it's unacceptable to refuse someone pain medication.


LOL. You are right. My wife's friend's husband.

Reactions: Funny 2


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## Spyker41771 (13/8/20)

This is actually weird, i had a spinal fusion about 4 ish years ago and my pain doctor told me i need to get of the smokes and move over to vape .. Think the usa is taking this a little to far to not loose money from tabbaco ...

Reactions: Like 1


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