The good thing is that there are now more studies of pain. It's subjective and not measurable. Sure we can't give out morphine like vitamin supplements, but there's no need for unnecessary pain.
"letting patients suffer" is a very telling sign of one attitude, but it isn't the only one, and not necessarily right or wrong.
Wanting to avoid discomfort at all costs is a very American trait as is its opposite attitude glorifying discomfort. There are more than two directions.
Of course there are situations where suffering is necessary or cannot be prevented, but I don’t think preventing suffering and pain is a very American trait.
The link between physical sensations of discomfort and pain and the conscious experience of suffering is not constant across individuals or situation and is correlated with cultural differences. I'm trying to create a distinction between pain and suffering (perhaps there are better words).
Western cultures and Americans in particular have a generally much stronger association of pain and suffering and expect that everyone else does too.
As an example, if you took me and a random life-long resident of the bay area and dropped us, appropriately dressed, into a 5 degrees F day outside for an hour, we would have very different experiences because I grew up in a cold climate and I just like it. I don't think my nerves work any differently or that any physical sensation I received would be different than anybody else's -- but my attitude towards cold and my feelings about the sensations are very much different than someone who spends most of their life in 65-90F.
Pain is information and your attitudes and experiences will change how you perceive it. The sensation is universal but its interpretation is not. You don't have to push nerve chemistry around with drugs to alleviate suffering. It is certainly useful in some circumstances, necessary in others, but not all circumstances and some cultures and some people put much to high a value on eliminating the sensation as opposed to treating and improving the downstream conscious and unconscious perception of it.
Western culture as a whole has moved on, not only the american.
But this is it. A bit of pain is good for you. That applies to everything in life.