DVD OUT NOW www.lifebeforedeath.com “Pain In China”Short Film 17 of 50 in the LIFE Before Death documentary series about the global crisis in untreated pain and the dramatic life changing effect palliative care services can deliver to patients and their families around the world. In this Short Film we discover that there is a widespread cultural fear of the use of opioids in China and other parts of Asia where pain is often treated with a variety of traditional Chinese medicine techniques rather than with essential medicines. “There’s a cultural fear with the use of opioids, not just among the health care providers but also among the public,” reflects Dr Mary Cardosa (Malaysia). “Patients have the perception that; ‘if I use morphine that means I’m going to die’. Those are all factors that will reduce the use of these drugs and the treatment of pain.” “Many of the patients in China, especially the terminal cancer patients, they do suffer severe pain in the course of dying” reports Dr Andrew Young (China). “As Chinese we are very concerned about opium,” states Dr Anne Lee (Hong Kong). “Some people say that it could be rooted back to our Chinese history with the Opium Wars,” considers Faye Chan (Hong Kong). “People are very reluctant. They are scared of dependence issues as well. Not just the public, sometimes the health care professionals.” “Around 60 to 80 per cent of the doctors have opiophobia — they fear to use opiate drugs, or morphine,” reveals Dr Young. “We try to …
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