safe and comfortable throughout your surgery."
I appreciate the efforts healthcare providers are now making to
implement opioid-sparing protocols and understand why we need leg-
islation that advances the transparent use of opioids and limits the
amount that can be prescribed to patients after surgery. Had surgical
professionals been more responsible and ethical, and hadn't con-
tributed to the opioid crisis that's having devastating effects on people
from every walk of life, then the government wouldn't have to get
involved in patient care.
In the end, the pain management mantra my mentors taught me 30
years ago still stands today: Give patients what they need. Surgical
professionals who follow that simple directive will manage post-op
pain appropriately without contributing to the opioid crisis. The prop-
er use of opioids is not a scary thing — they have a place in the anes-
thesia armamentarium — but their judicious and appropriate use will
mitigate surgery's role in the opioid addiction crisis.
OSM
Mr. Horowitz (unconscious@verizon.net), a longtime editorial board mem-
ber, is the owner of Quality Anesthesia Care in Sarasota, Fla.
8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0
