Judges’ comments: This piece was very, very effective. The reporter found people directly affected – tear-jerking footage of them, doctors trying to help, advocates, government officials and relatives. The problem is clearly outlined and there’s accurate reporting of the barriers and potential solutions. It’s a unique look at a problem not normally addressed in the context of an emerging nation such as India. This is a problem that affects Americans as well – access to painkillers in the context of the illegal drug trade.
Provide names of other journalists involved.
Jes Abeita, Sarah Buell, Sarah Carter, Rebecca Cheung, Trisha Sorrells Doyle, Evan Duggan, Daniel Hallen, Emily Jackson, Peter Klein, Dan McKinney, Jenna Owsianik, Niamh Scallan, and Robyn Smith.
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
July 20, 2011
See this entry (.MOV files):
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Imagine recovering from major surgery or suffering from advanced cancer without any painkillers. That’s the reality for patients in half the countries in the world, but unlike so many global health problems, this one is not about money or a lack of drugs. Morphine, the gold standard for medical pain treatment, is cheap and simple to make, and it’s easy to distribute. We traveled to Ukraine, Uganda and India to find out why so many patients needlessly suffer the torture of medical pain, and to document the human toll of this hidden human rights crisis. The resulting documentary Freedom From Pain uncovers touching patient stories and reveals the main impediments to a pain-free world are bureaucratic hurdles and the chilling effect of the global war on drugs. In India, we met patients like Fatima, who screams day and night because her breast has been eaten away by a festering tumor. Doctors do what they can, but opiates like morphine are off limits because of draconian drug laws in that country. In Ukraine, we met a former KGB colonel who is dying of prostate cancer and sleeps with a gun under his pillow in case the pain gets unbearable. The county’s Soviet-style bureaucracy won’t allow him to get more than the allotted 50mg of morphine a day, far too little to ease his suffering. We follow a brave young man as he comes to the rescue, risking serious prison time, by smuggling narcotics to the colonel to supplement his dose. Finally, we visit Uganda, a country that has found creative solutions to getting morphine to even the poorest and most remote patients in the country. By making access to pain treatment a basic human right, and by changing drug prescription laws, this small African country has set the model for how other nations could address the unavailability of morphine.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
We researched medical journals for the history of opioid and morphine use, intensive research by Human Rights Watch and the medical and personal writings of Dr. Anne Merriman and Dr. James Cleary. We did not use FOI or public record act requests.
Explain types of human sources used.
We traveled to Ukraine, Uganda and India to speak with doctors, nurses, human rights experts, pharmaceutical officials, government officials, and dozens of people suffering from pain due to cancer, HIV/AIDS or other severe health problems. Many of the patients we interviewed have since died. While many of the doctors we spoke to practiced Western medicine, some used traditional methods from their respective countries. Others, such as James Clearly, Anne Merriman, Mhoira Leng and Dr. Rajagopal are respected experts in palliative care, hospice care and pain management. We also interviewed Diederik Lohman of Human Rights Watch, who has long researched the lack of morphine outside of the Western world. Eventually, our project led us to the United States to question officials at the United Nations.
Results (if any).
We went to the United Nations to challenge diplomats on the blunt drug laws that curtail access to legitimate medical opiates, and the executive director of the UN Office of Drug Crimes admits that a side effect of his work is that patients around the world suffer unnecessarily. Freedom from Pain received widespread attention since it first aired on Al Jazeera English’s program People & Power on July 20, 2011. Major medical journals like the New England Journal of Medicine and Anesthesiology News wrote stories about the report’s findings, as did mainstream publications like The Guardian, India Times, and the Utne Reader. Producers were interviewed on a variety of programs including The Brian Lehrer Show, NPR’s Kojo Nnamdi Show and Pacifica’s Uprising Radio, and an accompanying Facebook page and website had a reach of more than 20,000 people a day.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
We have not needed to run any correction or clarification.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Every culture deals with death and pain in a unique way. Religion and spiritual beliefs – along with traditional medicine – played a monumental role in palliative care in each of the countries we visited. For those planning a similar story, be aware that some people might choose different methods of treatment than we, as North Americans, view to be the “best.”