The Tulsa shooting, the killing of Dr Preston Phillips, Dr Stephanie Husen, receptionist Amanda Glenn, and patient William Love, was clearly a tragedy - in more ways than one. This loss of life is unacceptable and on one level, patient Michael Louis is at fault, but 1/

there are others, consider them secondary contributors if you prefer, but in the eyes of many long time sufferers of severe painful chronic illness long ignored, as well as post-op patients who are told IV Tylenol is a suitable replacement for traditional opioid analgesics 2/

and that their pain is simply something they must endure, they are just as culpable. Before I continue let me reiterate, the murders of Dr Phillips, Dr Husen, Amanda Glenn and William Love were absolutely unacceptable and can in no way be condoned by any reasoning whatsoever. 3/

I pray for their families and the pain and grief they will continue to feel long after this story is no longer “newsworthy”. The other tragedy, one not as evident during the early hours following these murders, continues to unfold each and every day on every social media 4/

platform across this country - that being a deepening of the divide between healthcare workers on one side and patients on the other. Mr Louis is to blame for the tragic loss of life in this case, who is to blame for furthering the deterioration of the relationship between 5/

patients and those whose passion it is to provide care for these patients? One need not look any further than any one of your social media pages to watch as the discussion becomes more contentious and heated and the divide between healthcare workers and patients deepens. 6/

Are physicians to blame? Are Nurse Practitioners at fault? Do patients bear the responsibility? We all know the truth. Healthcare workers and patients are simply pawns in an ongoing assault on the way in which healthcare is delivered today here in the U.S. More and more 7/

so-called “guidelines”, rules, regulations, and even laws, defined by politically motivated entities and those seeking monetary gain, now dictate the way in which healthcare workers, physicians et al, must deliver care or be subject to hospital/practice discipline, medical 8/

board reprimand, and even DEA persecution. Seemingly, in rare cases is individualized patient care still the primary focus. Although we still do not know the specific circumstances that lead to Mr Louis resorting to such a desperate act, as one who has advocated for hundreds 9/

upon hundreds of patients suffering in pain of all sorts here in the small state of New Hampshire, be it acute trauma, post-op, or high impact chronic illness, I can see one possibility being that Mr Louis was assured, as is documented on the Tulsa Saint Francis Hospital 10/

website, a “pain-free” experience (see below). This would have been unfortunate. After-Care Support Program  Within 72 hours after discharge, a member of your Saint Francis Joint Replacement and Spine Center team will call to ensure you’re pain-free and moving with ease. 11/

details in the Saint Francis Hospital tragedy aside, one result of a healthcare system that has grown overly bureaucratic, that has evolved into one that severely limits a physicians decision-making relative to an individual patient, one that appears focused more on the 12/

bottom line than patient care and positive outcomes, is the loss of a positive and healthy patient-physician relationship. With this as one possible context and with emotions running high in both healthcare and patient communities, opposing views are expressed, disagreement 13/

is voiced, argument ensues, and the divide deepens. All the while the CDC, DEA, state medical boards, hospital systems and administrators, and insurance companies, with the arrogant and ignorant view that they know better than those in the field, continue on with the day to 14/

day work of defining and implementing new, even more restrictive ways to place on the overall healthcare delivery system. Patients and healthcare workers of all levels must recognize that the powers that be are not at all as bothered by our bickering as we seem to be. We 15/

must choose our words more carefully, we must be more sensitive to the plight of both “communities”, we must acknowledge that we, both patient and healthcare delivery communities, are victims of a bureaucratic and overly political and restrictive system that will use us, then 16/

replace us, without losing a moment of peace. WE MUST GET ON THE SAME SIDE - WE ARE ONE TEAM!