A woman sat in our emergency department in agonizing pain, feeling shaky, nauseous, and weak — drug withdrawal was setting in. But she wasn’t a “junkie” or even a recreational drug user. She was in her mid-60s with advanced cancer in her ovaries that had spread to her abdomen, causing unbearable pain. She was my patient — let’s call her Teresa.
As her palliative medicine doctor, my role was to treat Teresa’s pain as she endured the burdens of her cancer treatment. Only her prescription morphine gave her the relief she needed to function and enjoy some small pleasures, like walking her dog in the park. But one day, her pharmacy didn’t have her morphine in stock, nor did five other neighborhood pharmacies that she went to. I called another three pharmacies before finding one with a two-week supply available — but it was a 40-minute drive from her home.
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