By Hayley Ferguson

Medicine Hat man concerned with pain clinic regulation changes

Dec 20, 2019 | 5:30 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – After seven years, Trevor Moore felt like he had found relief for his chronic foot pain in August when he started visiting a local pain clinic.

Last week as he was just dozing off during his weekly treatment though, he was awoken suddenly by his doctor.

“To literally be sort of woken up and see my doctor in a distraught look at the end of my bed with a memo telling me they have to stop. My first reaction was I didn’t think I was processing clearly. I didn’t really believe what I was hearing, I didn’t know what was going on,” he said.

That memo, which was sent around the province by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA), told doctors that they were no longer allowed to administer sedatives or narcotics through an IV unless they were at a hospital or government-accredited clinic.

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Moore had been getting a ketamine IV weekly. Ketamine is an anesthetic that can be used to treat chronic pain syndromes.

The memo cited that there is insufficient medical evidence to support the treatment of anesthesia and sedating medications and potential long term effects.

“It is infused over time so the potential side effects, you can’t say they’re not existent. So what we’re saying is to do that in an accredited facility,” Dr. Karen Mazurek, deputy register for CPSA, continued. “When the evidence is not strong what needs to happen is you need to make sure that the person that’s providing that treatment has a good enough understanding of the conditions to be able to analyze the whole situation and offer the right treatment for the patient.”

Dr. Mazurek also noted that there are risks in general when it comes to anesthesia.

“When you over sedate someone, it affects their heart, it affects their breathing. So you have to be able to support breathing. To do CPR if necessary, that kind of thing,” she continued. “So that’s why that particular procedure is a high-risk procedure. And needs to be done not only by a qualified person. But also needs to be done in a facility where you have the back up to be able to handle the potential side effects that can occur.”

When he hears that though, Moore struggles with the fact that his doctor would be certificated to use the same sedative for a simple dental surgery in the same clinic, but not to help his pain.

“You don’t want your family doctor removing your appendix. I get it. But why would you not want your pain doctors treating pain? Why do you want me to move back into a hospital setting and have this delivered by an anesthesiologist alone not an anesthesiologist and a pain specialist? It doesn’t make any sense to me why they are going back on this whole scenario,” Moore sighed.

While going to the hospital for these treatments is still permitted, Moore says it could then be months between appointments because of typical hospital wait times.

Moore says that he has been forced to skip appointments in the past because of scheduling conflicts and says just in that short time he can feel a major difference both physically and mentally.

The treatment is a joint effort between his pain doctor who is also an anesthesiologist and mental health professionals.

“That’s really were the pain clinic is so powerful. Because they brought my mental state down and they brought my pain level down. I could engage in life again,” he continued. “They’ve saved my life. Without a doubt. I have goals. I have dreams, aspirations outside of surviving the day because of these treatments.”

CPSA says that they are looking into certifying doctors in clinics around the province for these procedures.

Moore says he is hopeful that they will but says he isn’t holding his breath it will be soon enough.

CPSA memorandum sent around the province