Dr. William Hurwitz, a prominent Virginia pain management physician, was convicted yesterday on 50 of 62 counts of over-prescribing pain medications to needy patients nationwide. Hurwitz is only the latest victim of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seemingly bent on maximizing the suffering of those already in pain -- and the dwindling number of doctors willing to care for them. His conviction comes almost a year to the day after he appeared at a Capitol Hill briefing that dramatized the epidemic of undertreatment of pain in this country.

Hurwitz was arrested in an autumn 2003 raid. Hurwitz's patients at the time included many suffering from cancer, chronic back pain, arthritis, or diabetes. DEA pressure, centered chiefly on its heavy-handed monitoring of prescriptions and contradictory guidelines concerning their proper use, causes a chilling effect, leaving fewer doctors willing to risk treating patients in chronic pain each year.

Hurwitz's arrest and conviction, part of an eightfold increase in physician prosecutions over the past three years, provides startling evidence of just how serious the problem of undertreatment of pain has become. What's more, data shows that the undertreatment of pain is causing needless and undue suffering and pain. As the nation's largest health problem, an estimated 50-75 million suffer from pain each day, resulting in more lost days from work than heart disease and cancer combined.