My lede:

As the misuse of opioids has grown, more physicians have urged patients to sign so-called pain contracts in an effort to prevent medication diversion.

But these contracts, also called opioid treatment agreements, can be used indiscriminately and harm rather than enhance the physician-patient relationship, according to an article by a panel of physicians and pain-policy experts in the November issue of The American Journal of Bioethics.

Read the whole shebang.