July 14th, Washington D.C. - A delegation from the American Pain & Disability Foundation (4APDF.ORG) is heading to the nation's capital for a crucial series of meetings with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Led by Executive Director and child advocate specialist Bob Sheerin, the team will educate lawmakers on the severe hardships faced by chronic pain patients and their medical providers, advocating for a significant shift in federal policy.
 

The 4APDF team, which includes Veteran & Senior Services Advocate and board member Shirley Buck, along with esteemed pain specialists Dr. Mark Ibsen, MD, and Dr. Neil Anand, MD, will present a two-pronged argument against current federal approaches to pain management.
 

A primary focus of their advocacy will be to introduce the concept of banning Morphine Milligram Equivalencies (MME) as a metric for prescribing opioid medications. The foundation argues that MME is a pseudoscientific construct, lacking objective scientific evidence and leading to arbitrary and often harmful reductions in necessary pain relief for patients with complex conditions.

Drs. Ibsen and Anand will also address the chilling effect the Department of Justice has had on the medical community through its aggressive prosecution of pain management physicians. The doctors will highlight the landmark 2022 Supreme Court rulings in Ruan v. United States and Shakeel Kahn v. United States. In a rare 9-0 decision in the Ruan case, the Court affirmed that to convict a doctor for overprescribing, prosecutors must prove the physician knowingly and intentionally acted without a "legitimate medical purpose."
 

Despite these definitive rulings intended to protect well-meaning doctors, Drs. Ibsen and Anand will press lawmakers on a critical question: why are Drs. Ruan and Kahn still incarcerated? They will argue that the continued imprisonment of these physicians, despite the Supreme Court's clear guidance, demonstrates a fundamental disconnect between justice and the realities of pain medicine, creating a climate of fear that deters doctors from treating patients in need.

The issue hits close to home for the delegation. Dr. Mark Ibsen, a tertiary pain management specialist who takes on the most complex "pain refugee" patients abandoned by other doctors, is currently facing a career-threatening challenge from the Montana Medical Board. The board, alerted by the DEA for "over-prescribing," will hold a hearing next Friday that could result in the loss of Dr. Ibsen's medical license. Such an outcome would leave nearly 2,000 of his patients without their trusted pain management provider.
 

The American Pain & Disability Foundation's visit to Capitol Hill represents a critical juncture in the fight for compassionate and scientifically sound pain care. The delegation hopes to not only enlighten legislators but to also catalyze a movement towards policies that prioritize patient well-being and respect the professional judgment of physicians, ending the era of what they deem a "war on doctors" and the patients they serve.