PRESS RELEASE

Oklahoma Physician Victim of a Medical Ferguson

http://painpatientscoalition.com    http://americanpaininstitute.org

  
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(Last week of April)
APRIL 23-30, 2016


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (5/3/15) 

Contact: Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.,  Founder & Chairman
              American Pain Institute (API) 
             662-392-2016
             e-mail:  JuneteenthDOC@yahoo.com 

             Virginia Brooks,  Chair
              National Juneteenth Pain Patients Commission
             National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF)
             National Pain Patients Coalition (NPPC)
             662-743-9471
             e-mail:  mspaincoalition@yahoo.com 


Oklahoma Physician Victim of a Medical Ferguson

Black Physicians Experience Discrimination  In 
Prosecution By Law Enforcement and the DOJ

Rev. Dr. Myers Urges Everyone to Stand 
Against  Pain Patient Bigotry in America

Ron Myers
Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.


(Roland, Oklahoma) -  The Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D. Civil Rights Activist  and  Baptist Medical Missionary Founder & President  of the  American Pain Institute (API) , one of the leading advocates  for chronic pain treatment in America and the only African American physician in southern  Seqouyah County, Oklahoma, has been falsely accused and punished for the prescription drug  practices of white physicians at the  Wellness Clinic of Roland  by the  Oklahoma Board of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBNDD) .

Returning to full time medical ministry in the Mississippi Delta following the recent death of his mother in Oklahoma, Rev. Dr. Myers has been blocked from receiving his Mississippi Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) certificate because of the discriminatory actions of law enforcement in Oklahoma. 

Now the poorest of the poor in America have been prevented from receiving medical care from the only African American physician and black church medical missionary in Mississippi Delta counties that have the least life expectancy of any counties in the nation.

Rev. Dr. Myers is asking for the prayers and support of everyone concerned about health care to the poorest of the poor in America's poorest geographic region,  the Mississippi Delta, and the compassionate treatment of chronic pain patients throughout the nation, to stand against pain patient bigotry in America and racial discrimination by law enforcement.   

"The late Chairman of the National Juneteenth Medical Commission, Dr. Frank McCune, and I have worked together for many years exposing the disproportionate prosecution of Black physicians by the law enforcement and the Department of Justice (DOJ)," states Rev. Dr. Myers, Founder & Chairman of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF). "Black medical professional face the same injustice by law enforcement as do black males on the streets of Ferguson, New York, Baltimore and across the nation."

In 2004, Rev. Dr. Myers organized a Juneteenth Frederick Douglass Freedom March in Washington, DC to bring attention to poor pain management in African-Americans. 

The National Medical Association (NMA), which represents the collective voice of 30,000 Black physicians, has evaluated disparities in pain treatment based on race. 

Based on NMA's study findings: "Racial profiling is more prevalent in pharmacies located in urban areas where pharmacies either refuse to carry certain opiate medications for fear or robbery, or a belief that prescriptions will be diverted for illegal use." 

Racial profiling by doctors and pharmacies, as well as the lack of Black physicians, contribute to inadequate pain management, a serious national public health problem that affects millions of African Americans and other under served minority populations. 

Rev., Dr. Myers, who organized a 2004 and 2005, "America's In Pain!" - MARCH ON WASHINGTON - "Silent No More!", calling for congressional hearings on the DEA War on Physicians, Pharmacists and Pain Patients, considers the discriminatory actions taken by law enforcement against his ability to provide health care to the poor, another horrendous example of how racism pervades the justice system in America.

"There are no criminal charges against me in Oklahoma. I have never been arrested or charged with any crimes in my entire life," states Rev. Dr. Myers, also the Founder & President of the Myers Foundation for Indigent Health Care and Community Development.  "Similar to the unjustifiable actions taken against Freddie Gray in Baltimore, law enforcement should not have taken action against me and so many other African American physicians in similar circumstances across America."

Death rates continue to soar while population growth declines in the African American community from youth gang violence, abortion, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, lack of access to health care, disproportionate number of young African American males in prison unable to become fathers, disproportionate numbers of African American physicians under criminal investigation by the  Department of Justice (DOJ), declining numbers of African American physicians in private practice, along with other causes. 

Rev. Dr. Myers, is especially concerned about the discrimination experienced by thousands of Sickle Cell Anemia patients who live in chronic pain by physicians, hospitals and clinics across the country. 

The "19th of June", Juneteenth, has been declared World Sickle Cell Day by the United Nations. The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF) continues to work in partnership with the NMA and the the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America (SCDAA)in the education, treatment and cure for Sickle Cell Disease during Juneteenth.
 
The annual National Juneteenth Health Summit continues to address how increasing health care disparities and the tragic loss of African American physicians in the black community significantly contribute to the historic problem of "Black Genocide" in America. 

National Pain Patients Coalition (NPPC), the National Juneteenth Medical Commission and the National Juneteenth Health Summit, contact Dr. Myers at 662-392-2016, 662-247-1471 or e-mail:

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