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Article: Cancer pain can be managed.
- Article from:
- USA TODAY
- Article date:
- May 1, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Society for the Advancement of Education. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Its time that Americans demanded the right to be free from needless agony.
TO MANY PEOPLE, the most frightening words imaginable are "It is malignant." The phrase conjures up a nightmare of unendurable pain, more frightening than the thought of death itself Pain remains one of the most debilitating effects and undertreated aspects of cancer. Many patients feel they must choose between two evils--unrelieved agony or dependency on dangerous, addicting drugs. Often, physicians fail to provide adequate pain relief for sufferers.
Pain sometimes is the first symptom of cancer, though some patients may live for years with virtually none at all. Over all, pain ...