The right to life and limb: the perception of pain throughout history

Hippocrates said “Sedare Dolorem Opus Divinum est”. Sedating pain is a thing of the gods. Pain Unit specialists are not considered gods, obviously, but they do have an intimate and deep conviction of the need to treat pain and of the futility and frustration of gratuitous suffering.

Why pain differs from one person to another

Pain undoubtedly has an important subjective element. Therefore, what is perceived of pain are the external manifestations of the patient, both in his or her gestural behavior and in the verbalization of his or her pain as well as in his or her coping. These external manifestations are determined by the patient’s history, religious beliefs, social and family conditioning factors and personal strengths and weaknesses.

The Relationship between God and Pain in the West

Undoubtedly, in the West, the concept of pain as a way of salvation or redemption before God has been very widespread and still, today, too deeply rooted in society, causing contradiction between man’s freedom and Divine omnipotence.

Clive Lewis, in his extraordinary book “The Problem of Pain”, clears up this supposed aporia. “It is very difficult to imagine a world in which God would correct the continual abuses committed by the free will of his creatures. In such a world, it would be impossible to commit evil deeds, but that would mean nullifying human freedom.”

When asked the question, “Does God permit pain? It is advisable to read Father Jorge Ordeig’s book, “The God of joy and the problem of pain”. Where in a categorical and categorical way, he asserts: “Pain is not a punishment from God”. And to those who maintain that human suffering comforts God, he replies: “It is not licit to suppose that God sends us a physical evil in order to bring about a moral good. The end does not justify the means. To wish evil on someone is sin. God does not sin.”

It is admirable how, from a profound spiritual reflection, one can arrive at approaches and solutions of such enormous practicality.

In another paragraph of the book, Father Ordeig states: “It is God’s express will that we fight against evil, against pain and suffering”. An affirmation that the experts in this specialty who fight against pain every day receive with admiration, joy and gratitude.

He insists on the following page “How should we react to pain? By fighting it. God wants us to defend our health and our life”. That’s right, one of the first questions we must ask ourselves in dealing with pain is not to ignore it. There is, we must be aware of it and not run away from its reality.

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Clive Lewis said in his aforementioned work The Problem of Pain: “Pain, injustice and error are three kinds of evil with a curious difference. Injustice and error can be ignored by the one who lives within it, but pain, on the other hand, cannot be ignored, it is an unmasked and unmistakable evil.”

How to deal with pain

Pain is not only an immediately recognizable evil, but an evil impossible to ignore. Once the existence of pain has been accepted, coping must be active (putting oneself in the hands of professionals, initiating distraction practices, family and social support) and not passive, catastrophizing (withdrawing into oneself and letting oneself be carried away by the situation).

Active coping is the most adaptive, and it has been clinically demonstrated that it produces a decrease in the intensity of pain, a greater social readaptation and an earlier return to work.

Already in the 17th century, Thomas Sydenham, the English Hippocrates, the creator of Laudanum, said: “Of the remedies that God has given man to alleviate his suffering, none is as universal and effective as opium”, and Father Ordeig ratifies this in his book: “God acts through created realities without us being aware of his intervention”.

To treat pain we should not expect any miracle, only believe that it is not necessary to suffer and trust in the goodness of the means that currently exist to treat it. Pain, therefore, must be treated early and with all the appropriate and correct means.

The right to life

Not only is it a Fundamental Human Right, included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and in Article 15 of the Spanish Constitution: “we have the right to life and physical integrity”, but it is also part of the ethics of the healthcare professional. An ethic of maximum, an ethic of duty applying the principle of justice, the right of the patient to receive a correct balance between risks and benefits and the principle of non-maleficence, maximizing benefits and minimizing risks.

Adequate treatment for pain control should not be skimped on, just because of ignorance or fear of the use of the drugs we should use.

Lanari said: “No patient should wish to die because his doctor does not give him a sufficient dose of analgesics”.