The Doctor Patient Forum
The Doctor Patient Forum is a national advocacy organization defending pain patients and the prescribers who treat them. We expose the truth about opioid policy, forced tapers, and patient abandonment. We expose the opioid elimination movement, and those at the center of it. Join Bev Schechtman and Claudia Merandi as we break down FDA moves, prescription surveillance systems like NarxCare, and the politics of addiction medicine. Because pain relief shouldn’t be a crime.
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The Dismantling of Pain Care by Addiction Medicine, And the Patients Sacrificed. A Decade of Harm.
<p>This episode documents how pain care in the United States was dismantled, not accidentally, but through deliberate policy choices that elevated addiction medicine over pain treatment and left millions of patients behind.</p><p>Bev Schechtman, Vice President of The Doctor Patient Forum (DPF), walks through the history of opioid policy, the rise of addiction medicine’s influence over pain care, and the real-world consequences for patients and doctors. This includes how clinical judgment has been replaced by fear, risk profiling, and enforcement-driven medicine.</p><p>The discussion covers:</p><p>How the opioid crisis narrative reshaped pain care</p>...
Why Pain Patients Became the Villains of the Opioid Crisis - Episode 58
<p>Why are pain patients treated like criminals, while people on Suboxone are celebrated as brave survivors?This isn’t just stigma, it’s a system. One that quietly rewrote the rules of who deserves compassion... and who gets discarded.In this video, we introduce a lens called Critical Drug Theory, based on Critical Theory, which helps explain how power, identity, and moral narratives shape public policy. It’s a way to understand why people with addiction are often seen as victims in need of care, while stable pain patients are labeled as privileged or problematic, even when both need medica...
20+ Yrs Fighting Opioid Myths, Dr. Chad Kollas on the FDA’s Latest Move
<p>Dr. Chad Kollas has spent more than two decades challenging myths and misinformation about opioids in pain care. In this episode, he joins us to break down the FDA’s latest opioid label changes, explain why they matter for patients, and share his perspective as a palliative care physician who has been on the frontlines of this debate since the early 2000s.</p><p>We talk about:</p><p>The significance of the FDA's new opioid label</p><p>The ethical failures of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in pain patients</p><p>How propaganda has shaped the narrative around op...
Scored. Flagged. Medically Abandoned. Forgotten. Unveiling NarxCare: The Hidden Scoring System in Your Medical Records
<p>🎙️ Episode 56</p><p>Scored. Flagged. Medically Abandoned. Forgotten.<br />Unveiling NarxCare: The Hidden Scoring System in Your Medical Records</p><p>This is a rerelease of a 2022 podcast episode featuring attorney Jennifer D. Oliva.</p><p>In this powerful conversation, Bev Schechtman and Claudia Merandi of The Doctor Patient Forum sit down with Professor Oliva to expose the implications of NarxCare and Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) on patient care — particularly for those living with chronic pain.</p><p>They explore the secretive nature of risk-scoring algorithms, the lack of transparency in PDMP data, and the systemic discrimination embedded in thes...
Prescription for Disaster: The Untold Truth of CDC’s Opioid Guidelines and their Fatal Impact: A CDC Physician's Person Account
<p> In this conversation, Claudia, Bev, and Dr. Charles LeBaron discuss his experience with a severe painful illness. After he struggled accessing opioids, he started investigating CDC's opioid guidelines and their tragic result. LeBaron Bio For more than twenty-eight years, Charles LeBaron worked as a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While there, he was the author of more than fifty scientific studies published in peer-reviewed journals, including first- or senior-author papers in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association. He was co-recipient of CDC’s Charles C. Sh...
"It Is a Privilege To Treat a Patient" with Dr. David Alfery - Episode 54
<p>Dr. David Alfery's Bio</p> <p>Dr. David Alfery was raised in the North but moved to Louisiana to attend Tulane University where he graduated with a BA degree in English. He then attended LSU Medical School in New Orleans. After graduating, he took the Louisiana State Medical Licensing Exam where he received the highest grade out of approximately 400 new doctors from the three medical schools in the state. He spent a year as a surgical intern at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky and then did his residency in anesthesia at the University of California in San Die...
Rerelease of "I Failed My Drug Test, But It's Wrong, Now What"? Episode 53
<p>The audio of this podcast was originally posted on 11/2/23. This is the video version. We are posting this again because one of the most common questions we get have to due with drug testing.</p> <p>We often hear from pain patients who were dismissed from their doctor for failing their drug test. They say there is no way the test is right. Ed Brown gives some possible explanations.</p> <p>Edward Brown's Bio:</p> <p>Edward G. Brown is a chemistry expert with over twenty-five years of laboratory research experience, over 5 years of patent work experience and over...
A Medical Witch Hunt Leads to 87 Months in Prison
<p>Dr. Joe Parker is our guest. Listen to what led to his prison sentence. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Dr. Parker's Bio</p> <p>Dr. Joseph Parker’s career spans the fields of science, military service, and medical practice. He has used his rare blend of scientific expertise, military leadership, and medical acumen to contribute significantly to the advancement of science and the betterment of human health and safety. He writes as an advocate for physicians and patients and for the humane treatment of those suffering from addiction and the incarcerated. His journey towards this impactful role began with fo...
Stigma Part 3 - "The Goal is to Force Taper Every Single Pain Patient Down to Zero" Episode 51
<p>Episode 51</p> <p>Stigma Part 3 - "The Goal is to Force Taper Every Single Pain Patient Down to Zero"</p> <p>We show using clips the disparity between how experts teach doctors to treat pain patients and how they teach doctors to treat people w SUD. </p> <p> If you missed part 1, here it is</p> <p>If you missed part 2, here it is</p> <p>We took clips from the following videos/podcasts: </p> <p>We used clips from the following links:</p> <p>1. https://youtu.be/JjGfimiRZmk?si=CnrIAflx07hjwVV2 - Alyson Smith</p> <p>2. https://youtu.be/_G...
Choosing Hospice to Access Pain Relief, Darren's Story - Episode 50
<p>Episode 50</p> <p>We interview Kara Cook about her study about the Controlled Substance Act and unintended harms. Kara's brother-in-law, Darren, tragically lost his life at 40 years old due to lack of access to opioids. Kara Cook is concurrently a lecturer in the Department of Statistics and a doctoral candidate in the PhD program in Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the College of Public Health. Her research interests include advancing our understanding of public health issues, with a primary focus on substance use disorder and its intersection with public policy. She is interested in using statistical methodologies to gather evidence ab...
