Doug Freyburger wrote:

> My Dad had that issue when he had gall bladder surgery recently. My
> brother looked at him and went to ask for a pain shot. They asked Dad
> his pain number. Five. No big deal. My brother told them he reported
> a four before going in for heart surgery and that it would probably take
> a bear eating his arm without removing it first to get a six. They gave
> Dad the shot.

asking him to rate his pain has nothing to do with whether he'll get the
pain med or not. It has to do with monitoring the effectiveness of the
pain med he is given (after they get a baseline reported "score")and
hopefully the score will decrease as he is made more comfortable.