The following article
was published in the Washington Times in April of this year. I found it an
interesting read. I have personally experienced this rise in prescriptive drug
related problems in my three decades of practice.
Please read, enjoy and
think. Maybe there is a better way!
Dr. Phillip Paulk
DRUGS AND HEALTH
OREGON, April 7, 2013 – Our society is over-medicated,
sicker than ever, and going broke along the way of ever-improving “health care
reforms.” We are approaching the $4 billion annual prescription drug purchases
mark which will reach an estimated direct cost of some $500 billion by the year
2015.
The current health care
system is a drug system. More drugs do not equal health any more than more
oxygen equals life. We are in need of a health renaissance that includes
functional approaches to health care, finding out what is wrong and offering
the body the appropriate physical, emotional, nutritional, spiritual
connection.
It is false hope to look
for pharmaceuticals to improve health without understanding the overall effects
of these drugs.
Drug-induced
Parkinsonism is the second most
common cause of Parkinsonism. It is a common complication of antidepressants,
calcium channel antagonists, gastrointestinal prokinetics, and antiepileptic
drugs.
Acetaminophen (Tylenol ®) is the leading cause of
acute liver failure in the United States resulting in approximately 140,000
poisoning cases, 56,000 ER visits, and approximately 100 deaths each year.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs)
are the second leading cause of peptic ulcers resulting in more than 100,000
hospitalizations at an estimated $2 billion in additional healthcare costs and
17,000 deaths yearly.
NSAID use is also
associated with cardiovascular mortality, particularly in the elderly. These
are the drugs Celebrex and non-selective NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and naproxen.
The number of medication
errors increases with people who have multiple chronic conditions. This problem
will only increase as the population ages and the number of conditions an
individual has increases.
“Adverse drug events” is
the term used when the supposed appropriate drug is given and taken properly by
the patients – they just have an unexpected side effect to the
medication. These result in an estimated 2.5 million hospitalizations and
1 million urgent care visits resulting in an additional indirect cost of $65
billion each year to the health care system and result in about 100,000
deaths. However, there are current estimates that these adverse drug
events are being underreported by a factor of 10 times. These numbers don’t
even include the number of prescription drug mistakes, wrong medications, too
strong of dosage, wrong combination of drugs, all of which is resulting in a high
morbidity, mortality and costs to our health (sick) care system.
Consider this:
55% of all Americans
take at least one prescription drug daily.
83% of the elderly (over
65 years of age) take at least one prescription drug daily.
75% of the elderly take four
daily.
11% take five or more
1.6 million teenagers
and children are prescribed at least two or more psychiatric drugs in
combination with no safety studies that support combining such medications are
even safe.
300,000 children under
the age of 10 are given two psychiatric drugs in combination.
The US ranks last in
health care outcomes of all other industrialized countries.
Misrepresentation in
marketing, conflicts of interest, and blatant drug research fraud and abuse run
rampant within the pharmaceutical industry and it is costing lives. Consider
who you will be working with:
Merck settles $688
million in lawsuits stemming from its delaying the release of unfavorable study
results for its cholesterol drug Vytorin. Meanwhile, the comany nets
$6.66 billion.
GlaxoSmithKline pleaded
guilty to alleged criminal activities, including unlawful promotion of certain
prescription drugs, failure to report certain safety data, false price
reporting involving its drugs; Paxil, Wellbutrin, Avandia, etc. They are
to pay $3 Billion to resolve their criminal and civil liability and execute a
five-year “corporate integrity agreement” with the US Dept. of Health and Human
Services. In 2011 they recorded annual revenue of $43.9 billion.
Abbott Labs in 2012
agreed to pay $1.5 billion over allegations it promoted the anti-seizure drug
Depakote for uses that were not approved by the FDA. Abbott annual revenue?
$35.2 billion.
Pfizer was fined in 2009
for improperly promoting the use of drugs for purposes other than those for which
they were approved.
Drug makers have been
fined about $8 Billion in fines for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid over the
last 10 years.
The list goes on and on.
It is time to require
non-drug practices as first-line approach to health care. Keep drugs as an
alternative to offer a temporary stimulation or inhibition of body
function.
True healthcare reform
requires three major shifts in thinking: 1. Improve the health of a defined
population; 2. Reduce the per capita cost; and 3. Improve the patient experience,
in terms of clinical outcomes, patient safety and patient satisfaction.
“ I firmly believe that
if the whole material medica, as now used, could be sunk to the bottom of
the sea, it would be better for mankind and all the worse for the
fishes.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., from a speech he gave in front of the
Massachusetts Medical Society May 30, 1860
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