Mr. Spagnola pointed out that the vast majority of veterans do not understand the side effects, or that treatment options are available to them. He added that this was in a large part due to a misunderstanding, that verbal consent is adequate to apply to Black Box Medications such as Antidepressants, Stimulants and Opioids. “That’s fine for Aspirins or Tylenol but not the highest risk medications,” Spagnola stated. “We must take every conceivable step imaginable to protect and fully inform our veterans,” he added.
Written Informed Consent has now been at the forefront to help veterans to be involved in their treatment plans. The conferences have included a short clip of a NewsMax interview Mr. Spagnola had with John Bachman, which provided statistics and solutions to help these warriors.
It has been shocking and not understandable to Dr. Murphy and his colleagues that our veterans don’t typically have these opportunities to select their treatment modalities and increase their chances for improvement for a better life. So efforts and support for this condition to change has now become a major demand.
On that note, despite far from winning this war, the following actions have been achieved:
Congressman Cory Mills ( https://mills.house.gov ) former Green Beret, originated to Mr. Spagnola, that he wants to champion his federal legislation to implement Written Informed Consent for Veterans in the VA System. This bill will mandate the VA to carry out a Pilot Program on Written Informed Consent. And what is exciting is the prospect that veterans would have a crucial opportunity to be informed of the side effects of the medications that are being prescribed. It would also be great to be able to select other treatment options such as canine, exercise, acupuncture chiropractic, physical therapy, talk therapy and many other more natural treatments. Surprisingly, most don’t realize that it’s their decision and not the doctor’s.
Another major step forward in this battle was made when Mr. Spagnola visited the Executive Director of the Reserve Officers Association, Major General Jeff Phillips. The General agreed to send out a “Print Out” for veterans to take with them to their medical interview. The “Print Out” will act as a reminder to engage the doctor to further ensure that he provides the Veteran his rights under Informed Consent. He also agreed to place this information on his national website. But more importantly, he voiced that he would propose that the Military Coalition (this is 32 National Veteran Organizations [V.S.O.] being over 7 million members strong) do the same.
And along those lines, yet another major step was achieved. This adding the information to their website has also been implemented by The Association of The United States Navy! Their Operations Manager is a strong supporter of this issue, and contacted Mr. Spagnola and expressed how urgent it was to provide this information to his members. He also requested that Mr. Spagnola do a podcast along with the former president of Paralyzed Veterans of America. That podcast, along with a written narrative of the issue, is now on then AUSN’s national website: http://www.ausn.org/post/ausn-discusses-the-need-for-informed-written-consent-for-veteran-health
Dr. Murphy pointed out to his colleagues that it is up to us to demonstrate leadership as health professional in a shoulder-to-shoulder National effort to help as much as possible and to continue the support. Yes! It’s important and vital to win these battles. However, we need to persist until we win the war.
About the Dr. Murphy likes to spend his free time traveling to warm places. Furthermore, he enjoys deep sea fishing. He is still looking for the blue marlin that got away from him on his honeymoon in 2002. He enjoys spending time with his family. The three girls keep him hopping.
To this day, he still gets tremendous satisfaction with every patient he is able to help. A smile brings happiness and he is proud to be a provider that can help spread health and happiness to the world.
Media Contact
Ronald Murphy, Ronald A. Murphy DMD, 1 6308797642, [email protected], www.murphydentistry.com
SOURCE Ronald A. Murphy DMD
