On November 7, 2022 chronic pain patient, Danny Elliot and his wife Gretchen, tragically took their lives after the DEA shut down Danny's doctor. Listen to our podcast from November 13, 2022 discussing Danny and Gretchen's suicides.

We interview Danny's brother, Jim Elliot. Jim talks about Danny's life, his accident that caused his severe intractable pain, and what Danny was like when he had adequate pain medication compared to when he didn't.

Here are Danny and Gretchen's obituaries.

Jim's comment to us and the chronic pain community: "I'd like to add  how appreciative our family is of the chronic pain patient community which was so supportive and helpful during Danny's struggle; after he lost his Georgia doctor, the others he saw were all referrals from friends he made through social media. He was articulate and knowledgeable and tried to help others even when he wasn't getting much help himself. As I said in our interview, all we want is for Danny and Gretchen's story to help others and to expose how apathetic the federal government is toward people in need. Thank you ladies for this opportunity."

This is the second suicide to to pain we've covered on our podcast. The first was Sonya Slone discussing the death of her husband, Brent.

Unfortunately, nobody is measuring patient outcome and the consequences of the crackdown on opioid prescribing. Nobody records what happens to the patients after a doctor is shut down by the DEA, or if a doctor retires. Danny's wife had contacted 17 doctors to try to find continuity of care, and couldn't even get an appointment. This was the third time Danny had lost a doctor due to DEA action.

We, at the Doctor Patient Forum, created a Google Document to attempt to collect stories of patient outcome from forced tapers and abandoned chronic pain patients. Please share the following:

Patient Abandonment and Forced Opioid Taper Questionnaire

If you have any questions about this form, please email Bev at [email protected]

For a list of studies showing accurate statistics including the tapering studies mentioned, please visit thedoctorpatientforum.com

Suicide hotline: 988 or 911

Disclaimer: The information that has been provided to you in this podcast is not to be considered legal or medical advice.