[Rough Draft] Access to Painkillers

[Umeria]

Category: Health | Area of Effect: International Aid

The World Assembly,

Noting that many medical operations and treatments would cause a large amount of pain to the patient without the addition of a painkilling substance;

Acknowledging that the amount of painkilling substance that a patient should receive is dependent on the patient's specific health issue;

Concerned that many nations' hospitals, due to a lack of availability, forgo the use of painkilling treatments or use treatments that are harmful to some patients;

Hereby

1) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, a "painkiller" as a substance used during a medical procedure which reduces the amount of pain the patient undergoes during the procedure to a tolerable amount;

2) Creates the Anti-Pain Program (APP) within the World Health Authority, tasking it to distribute painkillers to member nations with hospitals that lack the resources to do so themselves; and

3) Forbids member nations from administering a painkiller that has harmful effects which outweigh its benefits on the patient involved.

[Tinfect]

"Ambassador, I fail to see how this is even of national import for the vast majority of Member-States. A Member-State which is technically capable of enforcing the use of more advanced pain management is not necessarily able to do so practically, and those Member-States that are, have no need of this legislation, as such is likely already in use."

[Imperium Anglorum]

OOC: This definitions clause is ... horrid. Something more sensical, I think, would be something to expand the distribution of painkillers to better do hospice care. For example, there are huge areas of the world which do not have the painkillers they need to ease the pain of death. They give people ibuprofen to deal with things like cancer, which doesn't do anything. The lack or government restriction of opioid painkillers also means that many people in hospice care have to resort to buying them from the black market, strengthening cartels. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/18/world/much-of-world-suffers-not-from-abuse-of-painkillers-but-absence-of-them.html?_r=0

[WA Kitty Kops]

OOC: Definition B completely ignores the fact that some people may be allergic to the "more effective" painkiller, or that there are certain combinations of medicines that cannot be taken together due to side effects or overlapping effects.

Personal example: a combo of ibuprofen + paracetamol is most commonly prescribed for things like severe back pain. My medical file forbids doctors from writing that for me, as the combination (either med alone is fine, even in strong dosages) caused me a peptic ulcer some years ago, when I hurt my back badly.

EDIT: And "a medical procedure" being undefined, I definitely would count fysiotherapy as such. At least it was billed as such.

[Calladan]

OOC: Definition B completely ignores the fact that some people may be allergic to the "more effective" painkiller, or that there are certain combinations of medicines that cannot be taken together due to side effects or overlapping effects.

Personal example: a combo of ibuprofen + paracetamol is most commonly prescribed for things like severe back pain. My medical file forbids doctors from writing that for me, as the combination (either med alone is fine, even in strong dosages) caused me a peptic ulcer some years ago, when I hurt my back badly.

EDIT: And "a medical procedure" being undefined, I definitely would count fysiotherapy as such. At least it was billed as such.

To further explore that, my wife is forbidden from taking ibuprofen because it interferes with another drug that she is on for a different condition. Ditto for aspirin. So while they are both generic painkillers and routinely proscribed for most "pain" conditions, they aren't available to her.

[Schutzenphalia and West Ruhntuhnkuhnland]

"When you task this "Anti-Pain Program" with "distributing" painkillers, what do you mean? Specifically, how will they be paying for them?"

~ Katinka von Ausserkundszell
Second Deputy Under-Secretary to the Foreign and Colonial Office

[Tzapotltec]

You definitely need to use perform instead of preform.

[Umeria]

Cubbins: Looks like this needs a rewrite. This could take a while.

[Aclion]

I think the core concept is fundamentally flawed. Giving the WA a say in when to use painkillers, and which to use will necessarily put it in between patients and the doctors; who are better able to make these decisions.

[Bananaistan]

I think the core concept is fundamentally flawed. Giving the WA a say in when to use painkillers, and which to use will necessarily put it in between patients and the doctors; who are better able to make these decisions.

"This.

"And as much as we like jobs for the boys, after all I'm in one now, at some stage we have to stop whipping out the WA cheque book and setting up more bureaucrats in a committee.

"Also, the WA already has perfectly acceptable broad strokes legislation in this area under GAR#97 which provides for a WA funding mechanism for member states who are unable to adequately fund their health services. GAR#97 also has key safeguards against these WA funds not used for their intended purposes."

- Brian.

[Umeria]

"Edits have been made, including a shift of the core concept."

[Aclion]

This seems to duplicate GAR#97 entirely.

[Araraukar]

3) Forbids member nations from administering a painkiller which has an adverse effect on the patient involved.

OOC: Even worse. All meds have adverse effects.

[Umeria]

This seems to duplicate GAR#97 entirely.

"That resolution never mentions painkillers."

3) Forbids member nations from administering a painkiller which has an adverse effect on the patient involved.

OOC: Even worse. All meds have adverse effects.

Changed it to "harmful effect".

[Araraukar]

OOC: Even worse. All meds have adverse effects.

Changed it to "harmful effect".

OOC: Adverse, harmful, practically synonyms.

[Umeria]

Changed it to "harmful effect".

OOC: Adverse, harmful, practically synonyms.

More edits. I will add more substance to this when I have the time.

[Treskovia]

The Treskovian Ambassador stands up.
-"Gentlemen, I have the perfect solution. In my nation, we have an artificial material called Dracosteel, which is made by combining steel with Draconium, an ore that can be found only in the territory Treskovia occupies, and so far, only on Earth. Dracosteel has been found out to have immense healing properties. I propose making this substance a necessary ingredient in all drugs, narcotics etc."

[Schutzenphalia and West Ruhntuhnkuhnland]

"I'm still not certain the redraft has changed anything," says Katinka, having just got off a call with a very angry rep from the Schutzenphalian pharmaceuticals industry.

"You are creating an agency to "distribute" painkillers to member nations that "don't have the resources" to do so themselves. How will this be achieved, financially? Is the APP going to buy these drugs at market rate - in which case, why wouldn't the companies just push their prices sky-high? Are they going to be requisitioned? And is the funding for this going to come from the General Fund - meaning we would all be paying to essentially buy a huge amount of drugs and then giving them to other countries?"

~ Katinka von Ausserkundszell
Second Deputy Under-Secretary to the Foreign and Colonial Office

[Araraukar]

OOC: You still need to decide if you're dealing with anesthetics or analgesics or both, see the TG I sent.

[Sierra Lyricalia]

Leo stubs out the remainder of his cigarette before standing to speak.

"Ambassador, I must echo Ms. Oss- Ms. Aussker- the Deputy Under-Secratary's financial concern, and cross it with a pragmatic one. We do not intend to be on the hook for truckloads of expensive and dangerous narcotics just because some prudish dictator has outlawed more reasonable medicines. It's one thing if a certain class of medication is actually best for the job it's being used for; but something else entirely if it's simply the only drug available by government fiat. If your nation is too far up its own rectum to license cheaper and safer cannabinoids, we do not see why we should pay for you to force your citizens to use addictive opioids."

[Imperium Anglorum]

OOC: You still need to decide if you're dealing with anesthetics or analgesics or both, see the TG I sent.

PARSONS: The current draft appears to deal primarily with anaesthetics, as it defines a painkiller as "a substance used during a medical procedure which reduces the amount of pain the patient undergoes during the procedure to a tolerable amount".

[The Cheeki Breeki Anarchists]

Honestly, after I stub my toe, why do I need to travel to a pharmacy or, heaven forbid, the WA Head quarters. Instead why not I just go to the stash under the bed and pop a few aspirins?

[Imperium Anglorum]

Forbids member nations from administering a painkiller that has harmful effects which outweigh its benefits on the patient involved.

This would effectively ban euthanasia.

[Araraukar]

Forbids member nations from administering a painkiller that has harmful effects which outweigh its benefits on the patient involved.

This would effectively ban euthanasia.

So don't do it with an analgesic, do it with an anesthetic. There's a big difference.