Some patients are in pain. Some just want drugs. How do I tell them apart? A doctor’s essay

Brittany was a drug-seeker I knew by name, and I was not surprised when she rolled into the ER for the third time that month. As she lay on a wheeled paramedic bed pushed by an ambulance crew through big bay doors, her shrieks resounded down the hall and into the waiting area. She howled and swore through rotten teeth.