Chronic pain patients say local doctor is in their corner

SANDUSKY — Local chronic pain patients who have endured years of suffering say that finding Dr. Bill Bauer is one of the best things that ever happened to them."He's a good guy," said Dan Spangler, 59, Norwalk, who lost a leg after a construction accident. "He never really judged, 'Did I need the medicine?' He can tell.""If I didn't have him taking care of me the way he does, there's no way I would be here," says a patient, "Randy," 45, a Marine Corps veteran from Fremont who said he tried to end his life because of pain acquired during a horrendous Marine training accident."Thank God for Dr. Bauer," said Dale Hopkins, 59, Galion, who said he was virtually paralyzed with pain after back problems and a surgery that went bad.The physician the patients are talking about, Dr. William Bauer, 82, contends that patients suffering from pain have been hurt by the ongoing crackdown on providing large amounts of opioid pain pills.The result has been that people with severe injuries who badly need pain treatment are having trouble getting it, Bauer contends.Bauer is president of the Huron County Medical Society, which has just launched a website, huroncountymedicalsociety.org, which seeks to serve as a resource for people with severe pain problems.It asks people who have had trouble getting pain medication to take the following steps: (1) File a complaint under the Americans With Disabilities Act when they have been denied a prescription; (2) Record a video about their struggle for the PainSpeak YouTube Channel and (3) Join the Don't Punish Pain Rally Facebook group and participate in activism with other pain patients.Bauer said he also wants to eventually hold a community meeting to discuss the problems of chronic pain patients.In response to the opioid epidemic, Ohio has pursued a policy of discouraging large prescriptions of pain pills.The Ohio Board Pharmacy issued a press release on March 11 announcing that the number of opioid pain pills fell in 2018 for the sixth year in a row.Critics say the policy actually made the drug epidemic worse, with many people accustomed to obtaining pain pills switching to obtaining narcotics such as heroin and fentanyl on the street. The Kasich administration, which pushed hard to reduce the supply of pain pills, saw drug overdose deaths rise every year from 2011 to 2017, from 1,772 in 2011 to 4,854 in 2017.Bauer said some changes in dispensing pain pills make sense.He said he agrees that only about a week of pain pills should be given to people who have acute but temporary pain from recovering from oral surgery or an injury.But he said people with severe, chronic pain should not face constant hassles from doctors and pharmacists.All three of the chronic pain patients the Register interviewed described having to battle obstacles to getting pain treatment. (Bauer arranged the interviews with his patients at the Register's request but was not present as the Register posed questions.)"Randy," the Marine Corps veteran who asked the Register not to use his real name or photograph him, moved slowly as he walked into a conference room and sat down to answer questions. He described 15 knee surgeries, torn rotator cuffs and fused spinal vertebrae."My daily pain is manageable with the medications, but it's usually once every two weeks, I can't move," Randy said.He said the Veterans Administration has tried to limit his medications and makes him wait three to six months for an appointment, even when he is in severe pain and needs help.Before Bauer, it also was hard to find a doctor who seems interested, Randy said. Many are "kind of like a fast food restaurant," he said. "They don't listen to what you're saying.""My life is a lot better now than what it used to be," Randy said. "I tried to end my life numerous times."Hopkins described having to constantly battle doctors and pharmacists who come up with excuses for denying pain medication."As long as I have my medication, I can function and do normal things, like walking," he said."You can't think when you are in extreme pain. You can't do the things you would normally be able to do," said Hopkins, who described Bauer as a "lifesaver."Hopkins' fiance, April Evans of Galion, said it's hard to watch someone in pain who is being ignored.She said she Hopkins would scream and cry in a nursing home when he was recovering from surgery and the staff would do nothing."They were kind of nasty to him the last few months," she said.Spanger said after losing his leg he learned to walk again and returned to work, but has constantly had throbbing pain.He said he'd be happy to explore alternatives to opioids but said that for now, they seem to be the only way to make his pain manageable.Pharmacists constantly demand new authorizations for the pills and put obstacles in his path when he seeks the pain pills, he said. That never happens with his other medications, such as his blood pressure pills, he said."It shouldn't be so difficult," Spangler said.Bauer said he's had to battle the state medical board and regulatory agencies that don't understand that the reason he dispenses large amounts of pain pills is because he has practiced for decades and has patients who rely upon him. He said the authorities supervising him don't seem to care he's an emeritus professor at the University of Toledo."I haven't shot anybody. I haven't murdered anybody. I just take care of people who are miserable," he said.Dr. William "Bill" Bauer. Dan Spangler. Dale Hopkins