Undoubtedly, most doctors don't want to contribute to the opioid abuse epidemic sweeping the nation. But they also want to keep their patients satisfied. And often, the only way to satisfy a patient is to give him his fix.

In addition to the human instinct to ease a person's pain, at least in the short term, doctors are under pressure to prescribe powerful painkillers from a provision of the Affordable Care Act that partially bases Medicare payments to hospitals based on patient satisfaction.

Patient satisfaction surveys are only one of a number of factors that shape a hospital's Medicare reimbursement, and the surveys take into account a number of satisfaction measures, including noise and wait times, but they also ask patients to rate how well the provider was able to manage his or her pain.