Giving up isn't easy. Nobody likes to be a quitter. And when quitting or giving up means that you stop treatment on a patient because you simply don't know what else to do, that kind of forfeit can be the hardest to take. Yet, that's the forfeit most important for doctors to be able to admit to.

A column in the New York Times surveys the importance of knowing when to distinguish between the point of forging on with a treatment and deciding that enough is enough. The column focuses especially on the treatment of chronic back pain and the sticky situation doctors can get into by overissuing medicine and opioid after medicine and opioid. 

Writes Colin Fernandes, the author of the column: " A slap in the face came in an article from the Journal of the American Board of Family medicine that a colleague helpfully places on my desk. The title -- "Overtreating Chronic Back Pain: TIme to Back Off?" -- and the introduction said it al: "Innovation has often outspaced  clinical science, leaving uncertainty about the efficacy and safety of man common treatments. Complications and even deaths related to pain management are increasing."

To read the full article and to find a link to the journal, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/health/08case.html?_r=1&ref=health