http://www.painandthelaw.org/aslme_content/24-4c/24.4g.html "Health care professionals offer many reasons for the undertreatment of pain, and an effective response to the problem requires an effort on several fronts. Health care professionals require much more effective education and training in the treatment of pain. Institutions must remove unnecessary institutional barriers to pain relief and should ensure that effective pain management is an institutional priority. Payment systems should realize the costs of pain and adequately support pain control. Patients and caregivers must also be informed and assured that pain relief is to be expected and that fears of addiction are unfounded.
"One source of the problem, according to physicians, is the threat of legal sanctions for treating patients in pain, especially when that treatment must rely on the use of controlled substances. Doctors have reported that they undertreat for pain, in part, from fear of legal penalties, especially disciplinary action."
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