Death by prescription is no accident at all
It’s no wonder prescription drug-related deaths have reached epidemic proportions.
Prescriptions continue to be handed out like party favors on a daily basis. You tell your doctor a symptom, and he hands you a cure in the form of a pill—the magic bullet. But no two people are exactly the same. Genetic differences, lifestyle differences—even the shapes of our bodies can predispose us to certain diseases!
The CDC labels deaths from prescription drugs as “accidental drug poisoning.” But it’s no accident at all in our one-size-fits-all, conveyor belt medical system. The numbers are staggering: Accidental drug-poisoning deaths rose from 4.4 per 100,000 in 1999 to 7.1 in 2004, according to the CDC. The top drugs in accidental poisonings were psychotherapeutic drugs, narcotics and hallucinogens, and other “unspecified” drugs. The CDC report also came with some recommendations: More regulations to reduce the unsafe use of drugs.
Change the properties and strength of some prescription drugs so there’s less potential for abuse.
And this last one really got me fired up: More training for doctors so they understand appropriate treatments for pain and mental health problems.
Did I miss something? Isn’t that the job of a doctor, to understand treatments for pain and mental health problems? While they’re at it, the CDC should give a pop quiz to all practicing physicians. Keeping in mind that most doctors are so short on time, I recommend they keep the quiz simple. Say, one question, and make it multiple choice:
What is the core value in the medical profession? Prescribe the most recent drug you saw advertised on TV.
Provide patients with as many magic bullets as they can carry in one hand.
Get patients in and out in of the office in seven minutes or less.
First, do no harm.
I am scratching my head, pondering what the actual answers might come out to be, the way things have been going lately.
Instead of investigating safe ways to alleviate their patient’s symptoms and pains, too many doctors have swallowed hook, line and sinker the idea that the answer can only be found in an expensive prescription bottle. Meanwhile, more patients continue to die from the very same drug that was supposed to heal them.
