Dr. Orr, thank you for this very insightful article. I am a patient who has been severely harmed by my Dr.’s refusal to stand up for his patients. I have struggled to understand why he got into the practice of medicine if he could care less his patients were truly suffering. Needless to say, my Dr. is a Pain Management Specialist embroiled in the “Opiod Epidemic”. I was a very compliant patient, took my medications EXACTLY as prescribed, passed every u/a, pill counts, etc. for 8 years. I went in for an appointment to be blindsided by being terminated from his care, with absolutely no explanation why in February of this year. That very day, my education on the issues surrounding the UNDERTREATMENT of pain in this Country began in earnest. The more I learn about the competing financial interests and issues facing Chronic Pain patients, the more depressed I become. Through everything I have faced since February, while suffering in absolute agony and trying to navigate the complicated health care industry alone, I could NOT understand WHY all these physicians abandoned their patients and refused to speak up to regulators enacting this cruel, inhumane treatment of the Disabled and Veterans! I have done my research, and I am I am up-to-date on the issues. Thank you very much for answering my question of why our Doctors are not speaking up for their patients. I don’t think it’s ethical, but I do understand. Why is the AMA not advocating for Doctors in these situations? Why have they been silent on the DEA targeting of Doctors for prosecution and civil forfeiture? I would really like to understand, and thank you in advance. God help us all if Healthcare continues down this current path. Today it’s pain patients, tomorrow it could be diabetics and heart patients. America needs to wake up, do some research, and stop believing everything on the news as fact without checking for themselves. The Media also has bought into a ton of misinformation, and repeated stories with outright lies without doing due diligence themselves. It’s easy to ignore the outright torture of a disadvantaged segment of society….UNTIL it affects you personally. Where has our compassion and humanity gone?