To end monkeypox, we must return power to our patients

The BMJ
Aug 05, 2022

To end monkeypox, we must return power to our patients


The US's response to monkeypox fails to put patients and their care at its center, writes Eric Kutscher

As a primary care and addiction medicine physician, I have been dismayed by the number of patients I’ve treated over the past few weeks who’ve been infected with the vaccine-preventable monkeypox virus. Most have been in considerable pain and required strong analgesics, with some unable to even sit because of their skin lesions. Yet for many, the most agonizing and scarring aspect of their infection is not their physical symptoms, but the complete removal of their humanity by the medical response to monkeypox.