"Pain," as Albert Schweitzer once said, "is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself." Prolonged pain destroys the quality of life. It can 1 the will to live, at times 2 people to suicide. The physical effects are equally 3 . Severe, persistent pain can spoil sleep and appetite, 4 producing fatigue and reducing the availability of nutrients to organs. It may 5 delay recovery from illness or injury and, in weakened or elderly patients, may make the difference between life and death.
6 , there are some kinds of pain that existing treatments cannot ease. 7 doctors can do little in these cases is terribly distressing for everyone involved but is certainly 8 . What seems less understandable is that many people suffer not because their discomfort is untreatable but because physicians are often reluctant to 9 morphine. Morphine is the safest, most effective painkiller known for constant, severe pain, but it is also 10 for some people. 11 , it is rarely prescribed.
Indeed, concern over addiction has 12 many nations in Europe and elsewhere to ban 13 any uses of morphine anti related substances, including their medical applications. Even 14 morphine is a legal medical therapy, as it is in Great Britain and the U.S., many doctors, afraid of turning patients into addicts, 15 amounts that are too small to control pain.