Liability issues in the management of pain

Abstract

Liability issues associated with pain management are important to health-care providers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers of pain-management devices, health-care payors, and society at large. This article discusses five specific legal liability concerns: (a) health-care providers' liability to patients and/or exposure to professional discipline for inappropriate pain management, (b) health-care providers' liability to third parties for injury caused by patients treated for pain, (c) the legal distinction between pain management and euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, (d) health-care payors' liability to patients for cost-containment decisions that impact on pain management, and (e) manufacturers' and health-care providers' liability for the risks and side effects of prescription drugs and pain-management devices.