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Nonconsensual Dose Reduction Mandates are Not Justified Clinically or Ethically: An Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Stefan G. Kertesz ,
Ajay Manhapra  and
Adam J. Gordon
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Abstract

This manuscript describes the institutional and clinical considerations that apply to the question of whether to mandate opioid dose reduction in patients who have received opioids long-term. It describes how a calamitous rise in addiction and overdose involving opioids has both led to a clinical recalibration by healthcare providers, and to strong incentives favoring forcible opioid reduction by policy making agencies. Neither the 2016 Guideline issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor clinical evidence can justify or promote such policies as safe or effective.

Type
Symposium Articles
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 48 , Issue 2: Opioid Controversies: The Crisis — Causes and Solutions , Summer 2020 , pp. 259 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics 2020

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