| View Larger Image | Inside the Methadone Clinic Industry
by Lisa, C. Berry
| | List Price: | $12.95 | | Price: | $11.01 | | You Save: | $1.94 (15%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 1482589 | | Studio: | Wheatmark | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 132 | | Publication Date: | August 15, 2007 | | Publisher: | Wheatmark |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
In Inside the Methadone Clinic Industry, former methadone counselor Lisa Berry takes the reader into a never before published insider's view of the profiteering and politics rampant in the methadone clinic industry. She exposes some critical issues within the system: . Under qualified counselors . Ineffective and valueless counseling . Overregulation to stop the sale of methadone . Bureaucracy for profit . Keeping patients hooked on methadone for profit . How profits are made from addiction Berry describes in detail how patients needing methadone medication have lost their voices, and exposes the façade that has been presented to an unknowing and unsuspecting public. She suggests an alternative, ethical mode of providing this same medication to opiate dependent patients that incorporates channels already available in every community. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 1.5 based on 3 reviews)
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who edited this? 
Although there were some worthwhile thougts in this book, the incredible amount of grammatical and spelling errors made it very difficult to wade through. It almost seems like a (very) rough draft that was never edited before going on to publication, with many of the errors being ones that a young child would have caught. It distracted greatly from the book's quality, and when I remember the book, that is what I recall, not the content itself.
April 22, 2008 | |
I Can't Read This!
This book is so poorly written that it was very difficult to read. The spelling, punctuation, amd grammatical errors were everywhere. Jargon was overused and over explained. The abundance of quotation marks drove me crazy.
I don't disagree with the author's points, but it reads like an editorial. I have to question what ax is she grinding? She says she worked at 3 clinics. Why work at 3 clinics if you are so at odds with what goes on there?
I went into this book looking to learn something new, but there is no documented research here. It's just one person's opinion.
December 22, 2007 | |
High Turnover of Underqualified, Underpaid Methadone Clinic Staff Impairs Patient Care 
Inside the Methdone Clinic Industry totally ignores the illegal diversion of Methadone and the Methadone overdose epidemic, which kills almost 4,000 people, annually, in the United States. Methadone overdoses now kill more Americans, than heroin. California inspectors discovered one Methadone Clinic was unable to account for 22,069 milligrams of methadone, over 400 potential fatal overdoses! Berry fails to discuss overprescribing of Methadone, during treatment initiation or for chronic pain. Berry provides no discussion of Methadone alternatives, including Suboxone, Subutex, Buprenex, Morphine pumps, Duragesic patches, accupuncture, or other pain treatments, including transdermal pain creams, prolotherapy, intravenous colchicine for ruptured discs, etc.
Berry discusses costs patients pay for treatment, which average, about $400 monthly. She makes a good point that most insurance plans should pay for Methadone Maintenance, but do not. She also discusses applicants for Methadone Maintenence Treatment, who die, while they wait for treatment openings, at Methadone Clinics and correctly asserts Methadone Maintenence should be more widely available.
The most useful information, in this book, is the perspective concerning counseling, at Methadone clinics. Berry worked at three different Methadone clinics, including one where staff turnover was 400 percent, in one year. She observes many chronic Methadone patients know more about Methadone and chemical dependency, than the green, inexperienced counselors, who are assigned to them, by the clinics. She explains Methadone counselors have little time for counseling patients, after completing documentation paperwork, monitoring urine drug tests, etc., and monitoring lines, at medication dispensing windows, or performing other security functions. Methadone counseling or casework is generally viewed as an undesirable counseling job, which some counselors endure while obtaining adequate experience or education, qualifying them for better counseling work.
Another problem with Methadone counseling, again partly due to rapid counselor turnover, is a tendency of counselors to distance themselves emotionally from patients. Many counselors have not been allowed to say goodbye to their assigned clients, when clients are discharged, move or the counselor leaves the program. Lack of an opportunity for closure, with counseling clients, encourages Methadone counselors to avoid an emotional connection, with their clients. Excessive turnover of counselors causes clients to avoid trusting new counselors, with their issues. Clients become weary of telling a procession of new counselors the same personal information.
From a counseling perspective, most Methadone clinic counseling is very ineffective, due to high turnover, inability of patients to select their counselor, underqualification of counselors, mandatory counseling for chronic pain patients, who often do not need counseling and inadequate time for patients, who experienced trauma or are in abusive environments or relationships.
The low pay and high counselor turnover, at Methadone clinics helps explain the following alarming information:
149 staff in U.S. methadone clinics were surveyed about their knowledge of methadone toxicity. Only 14% knew that a methadone maintenance patient's risk of dying was highest in the first two weeks of treatment, and only 15% knew that starting new maintenance patients on daily doses of 30 mg. to 40 mg. of methadone could be unsafe. (Maxwell, J.C., Pullum, T.W. & Tannert, K (2005).Deaths of clients in methadone treatment in Texas: 1994-2002. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 78(1), 73-81).
The problems with counseling, at Methadone clinics are very credible, and have been reported by many Florida Detox Methadone Detox patients, who have received counseling, at Methadone Clinics, prior to Methadone Detox, at Florida Detox.
There appears to be no justification for the low pay and shortage of counseling and medical staff, at Methadone clinics, since the clinics appear to be highly profitable, with profits reported, from 16 to 50 percent of revenue, after taxes. CRC, treating over 20,000 methadone patients daily, reports daily profits per Methadone patient of $10.91 to $11.07.
Berry provides a good discussion of the undeserved, counterproductive stigma and discrimination suffered by Methadone patients, who frequently are responsible, self-supporting, contributing members of society, who work, support their families and often are well educated, sometimes with advanced professional degrees. She explains that no segment of society is immune, from chemical dependency, since any of us could be disabled, with chronic pain, with almost no warning. Her concern for chemically dependent patients is obvious.
Possibly the most important concept, conveyed by this book, is the vulnerability of Methadone clinic patients, when they do not have a choice of clinics. Since they are very dependent, on clinic Methadone, they are very hesitant to assert their rights, or complain about clinic policies or staff, due to possible retaliation or dismissal, from treatment. Berry also reveals the dissatisfaction of opiate dependent veterans, with Veteran's Administration treatment programs. Veterans often have even fewer treatment choices, in the Veterans Administration, and sometimes seek treatment, in non Veterans Administration programs, due to the difficulty of traveling extremely long distances, to the closest Veterans Administration facility, which essentially has no competition.
This short book contains numerous misspellings, incomplete sentences and grammatical errors, which could have been eliminated, with a spell and grammer checker. The number of errors is amazing, since the author represents that she holds a Masters Degree in Chemical Dependency Counseling.
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Steven Sponaugle
Research Director, Florida Detox
July 31, 2007 | |
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