A jury in Northern California has found a physician liable for elder abuse because he failed to administer enough pain medication for a terminally ill patient. The jury awarded one-and-a-half million dollars to the patient's family.

William Bergman's children say they knew the odds were against them in court, but a jury found the doctor who treated their father in his dying days was reckless and liable for elderly abuse because he didn't prescribe enough pain medication.

Robert Bergman, the patient's son says, "We knew that if we told our story, we told the truth, and um put it in front of people, that uh hopefully they would see where we were coming from and that this did not need to happen."

85-year-old William Bergman, a terminal cancer patient, died in February 1998 after spending six days at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, California. Bergman's children say he suffered needlessly because Dr. Wing Chin didn't administer enough painkillers.

Beverly Bergman, the patient's daughter, says, "When you're reckless [and] you're treating a person with chronic pain or intractable pain, there are consequences. think that's what the jury said today."

During the month-long trial, Dr Chin testified that he followed established pain management protocols.

Bob Slattery, Dr. Chin's defense lawyer says, "Quite frankly I think that the doctor complied with the standard of care, [and] that the evidence that we produced showed that."

Family members acknowledged on the stand [that] they didn't directly ask the doctor for more medication.

Alice Edlinger, Bergman's daughter, says, "We trusted that they knew what they were doing to relieve my father's pain."

Advocates for terminally ill patients say undermedication for pain is a widespread problem.

Jim Geagan a family attorney says, "I think the effect of this is gonna be a tremendous increase in consciousness in California and, I hope, throughout the country that physicians have to make pain management a priority."

Bergman's family chose to sue for elderly abuse because California malpractice laws don't allow pain and suffering awards for the deceased. The jury award, one-point-five million dollars, is likely to be reduced to 250-thousand dollars to comply with a state cap on awards.

Related Websites:

• Cancer-pain.org: This web site has been developed by ACOR (Association of Cancer Online Resources) with input and advice from patients, caregivers and an Advisory Board of health care professionals dedicated to providing the most advanced cancer pain relief. Their aim is to help cancer patients receive the pain treatment they deserve.
• A fact sheet about pain medication : Courtesy of NIDA (National Institue on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health)
  
• The Stanton Peele Addition Web Site: Contains questions and answer about how much pain medication should be prescribed. Also has links to additional information.
  
• Harmful Effects of Pain Medication: The other side of the story from the American Medical Association.
  
• CBS Health Watch: What Pain Medication Is Right for What Kind of Pain? Jean Lawrence, Medical Writer June 22, 2001
• Doctor’s Guide: Many Elderly Cancer Patients Go Without Pain Medication : This article has some interest statistics.
• Cancer Pain and Pain Management: This University of Pennsylvania site has an article which addresses pain management and cancer.
  

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