The nanny state punishes everyone to prevent the few from committing crimes.

The Nanny State punishes only the innocent. It never punishes those that deserve it. In this case, those with significant pain, which a doctor is bound to treat, has now been legislated top limit full treatment. This is a classic example of elected officials practicing medicine. If you or I did that, we would be in jail. But because elected officials are immune from the laws that goobern the practice of medicine, they can dictate who gets what and when and how much. This has nothing to do with protecting the public or improving health. It has everything to do with the absolute control by the goobernment over every aspect of the goobernments peasants’ lives.

Ha, ha, ha, and no soft drinks to wash down the asperins. Cause that might make you fat.

Tiny Bloomie´s Nanny State. Wait till he´s no longer mayor and his billions are unleashed on his various pet causes: repeal of the 2nd Amendment, food consumption, where you are allowed to live and work, etc. He has already stated his intention to be Nanny of All. Since he is so anti-arming the law-abiding citizenry, I propose he lead by example and disarm his huge security posse. (s/o)

Re ER drugs, I suspect the problem in the city-owned (HHC) hospitals, which are largely war zones or sinkholes, is more staff pilferage and diversion than actual ER use. Of course, for the private hospitals (which Tiny´s tried very hard to drive out of business for years), this then leaves them over to legal liability if they do dispense outside the city hospital guidelines, so Tiny´s gifted the trial lawyers. See how the system works?

My wife is an ER nurse so believe me when I tell you that drug seeking is a major problem. But, and there is always a But (I like Ann COulters description of people who always use this contrivanmce when debating as screaming But Monkeys) doctors and nurses are pretty good at recognizing them.

In reality these patients are "frequent flyers" known in ever ER in the area and since their brains are either addled by drugs or wracked with withdrawal they are about as subtle as a baseball bat to the forehead.

I have a headache, Vicodin makes it go away, or The other Dr. have given me percocet and that always works are pretty much dead giveaways. A person in pain who has been treated before dosn´t go through the charade. They will state right up front, I ran out of painkillers and was hoping I could get some relief. Drug seekers always put on a big show.

Prescription drug abuse is a big problem but it is not ERs at fault. Too many unscrupulous doctors are. The druggies know which doctors overprescribe and which ones don´t. The overprscribers get a LOT of repeat business.

Bloomberg - Raise New Yorkers taxes. They aren´t paying their fair share.

Since NYC supported Obama by 81% and have elected Bloomberg several times, I will assume they like being subjugated, other than our stalwart Lucianne and staff.

#7 there are more than a few people like me left, and most of us read Lucianne!
#5 agreed, biggest problem are the docs who overwrite scripts for painkillers though NY is pretty good about tagging them, and in NYC ER docs/RNs are pretty good about spotting ´frequent flyers´. It´s just that the HHC hospitals are war zones with high turnover and that no one talks about theft....

I have to wonder how long it will be before the subjects in NYC revolt against their king and do us all a favor?

If all the libs in the country were to move to New York, California, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, in order to from a more perfect union, could we kick those 5 states out of it?

#8, I should have included Lucianne readers as part of the sensible folks in NYC who have to endure this nonsense.

Had to laugh at the phony numbers regarding O votes in NYC. Half the population couldn´t vote due to power outage, flooding, homes floating away, people dying, etc. due to Sandy.

So easy to fix the voting records under those circumstances.

Hey now, as a native Oregonian, I will grant you Portland and Eugene but leave the rest of us alone. We are proudly red.

Since it appears that nanny Doomberg has reached the knot at the end of his rope with this lunacy, here´s hoping the knot doesn´t hold.

Since when did Bloomberg have time to get his medical license? Was this before or after he was being a dietician and measuring how much salt was in food or before he was checking fast-food joints for how much soda they served. Wonders never cease with this guy and how he thinks he can dictate to others. This is a medical decision made by medical doctors not naggy little mayors.

I think that the unintended consequence here will be more ER visits for pain meds. Give 5 day supply, they´ll be back every 5 days. 3 day supply, every 3 days. This will add to the ER congestion and wait times for those who are truly sick.

I have volunteered in the ER of a local hospital - and yes, the doctors and nurses can spot a drug shopper very quickly.

I had the occasion to visit the same ER a couple of years later when I was bit by a copperhead snake. I´m certainly not "a shopper" and I would´ve been major mad if someone said "uhh, we have to withhold pain medication."

If someone is really in pain, or is recuperating from surgery, an accident - any health provider will tell you that they recuperate much faster if they are not fighting intense pain during the process.

This is one scary, judgmental little man.

It´s completely irrelevant whether prescription painkiller abuse is or is not a problem. It is none of the government´s business, and they should butt out.