AMERICAN GERIATRIC SOCIETY PROMOTES OPIOIDS AHEAD OF NONSTEROIDAL ANTIINFLAMMATORIES FOR PAIN..

n a landmark 1990 judgment (Ferrell 1995) , the court ruled that carers have a duty to provide pain relief even if opioids are necessary, where pain contributes materially to functional impairment and decreased quality of life.

Now the American Geriatric Society has reinforced that  (Ferrell 2009) , but warned against use of NSAIDs because of their risks, as this column argued last week starting rather with paracetamol acetaminophen +- opioid as backup.

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