Quantities in Chemical Reactions: Death by Prescription (ooh)

Article: https://www.worstpills.org/public/page.cfm?op_id=3

In 2003, the statistics show that approximately 3.4 billion prescriptions were filled in the United States alone. This equates to roughly 11.7 prescriptions for each of the 290 million Americans.

There is no dispute that prescription drugs are beneficial - they are, in many instances, the difference between life and death. The problem arises when hundreds of millions of these prescriptions are either entirely unnecessary or unnecessarily dangerous. Inappropriate prescription is an academically gentle euphemism for prescriptions for which the risks outweigh the benefits, thus negatively impacting the patient's health.

Disregarding the obvious threat to public health, misprescribing also wastes tens of billions of dollars. In the U.S., where healthcare isn't nearly as developed as it is in Canada, the drugs that they actually need could be made unaffordable by wasting money on the ones they don't. But there are much more serious consequences. The stats show that more than 1.5 million people are hospitalized and more than 100,000 die each year from largely preventable reactions to drugs that should not have been prescribed in the first place.

So, how do the prescribers (doctors, pharmacists) mess up?

Sometimes, the “disease” for which a drug is prescribed is actually an adverse reaction to another drug. But instead of lowering the dosage (to see if there's any correlation between the old drug and the patient's health), the physician adds another drug to counter the symptoms observed.

Other times, a drug is used to treat a problem that, although occasionally aided through pharmaceutical solutions, should be initially treated with commonsense lifestyle changes. This is known as overprescription - a mass treatment of symptoms with drugs instead of an alternative change - such as a shift in diet, exercise, etc.

In other cases, they might give the wrong dosage, or prescribe two otherwise harmless drugs at the same time that react together, harming the patient. (The article goes on to list their compilation of '7 deadly sins' made by healthcare professionals that are detrimental to a patient's health, as well as their causes and evidence of them.)

"In summarizing the origin of this overprescribing problem, the authors [of The neglected medical history and therapeutic choices for abdominal pain: A nationwide study of 799 physicians and nurses.] stated: “Apparently quite early in the formulation of the problem, the conceptual focus [of the doctor] appears to shift from broader questions like ‘What is wrong with this patient?’or ‘What can I do to help?’ to the much narrower concern, ‘Which prescription shall I write?’” They argued that this approach was supported by the “barrage” of promotional materials that only address drug treatment, not the more sensible lifestyle changes to prevent the problem." -quoted from article

There are plenty more statistics and insights cited from various published studies and sources around the web. The point is, for many patients, the system is against you—the decisions made by drug companies, doctors, and pharmacists ultimately come from what is best for the drug companies, doctors, and pharmacists, (remember that doctors get paid by drug companies when prescribing their product, although that's another subject altogether) and, from statistical evidence, not always what is best for you.

Firstly, were you previously aware of these staggering statistics? When you go to the doctor's office, do you talk about diet, exercise, nutrition, stress and sleep factors that may be contributing to your illness, or did the doctor seem eager to prescribe a quick fix? And lastly, would you feel comfortable questioning the doctor about the prescriptions they fill for you?