Report: Military's pain relief programs fall short

[unhappycamper]

Report: Military's pain relief programs fall short
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The military's failure to provide consistent and coordinated pain relief to troops contributes to suicides, prescription drug abuse and aggravates cases of mental illness and brain injury, according to an Army task force investigation.

Prescribing doctors rely too often on narcotic pain relievers, while a "no pain, no gain" military culture encourages troops to ignore injuries until discomfort becomes chronic, says the 169-page task force report released Wednesday.

The 22-member task force was created last year to examine how the military treats wound and injury pain — a growing consequence of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — and develop a comprehensive plan to treat it.

The Pentagon must reorganize how it deals with troops in pain, including training and hiring more pain-management specialists and finding different methods of pain relief other than narcotics, the report says.

Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general, said in a statement that the report will help the entire military improve how it handles pain management.