100,000 Americans Die Each Year From Taking Their Prescriptions The Right Way

100,000 Americans Die Each Year from Prescription Drugs, While Pharma Companies Get Rich




Prescription drugs taken as directed kill 100,000 Americans a year. That's one person every five minutes. How did
we get here?













LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?
Join our mailing list:

Sign up to stay up to date on the latest News & Politics headlines via email.







How many people do you know who regularly use a prescription medication? If your social group is like most Americans', the answer is most. Sixty-five percent of the country takes a
prescription drug these days. In 2005 alone, we spent $250 billion on
them.

I recently caught up with Melody Petersen, author of Our Daily Meds, an in-depth look at the pharmaceutical companies that have taken the reins of our faltering health care system by cleverly hawking every kind
of drug imaginable. We discussed how this powerful industry has our
health in its hands.

Daniela Perdomo: Your book includes some staggering stats. For example, 100,000 Americans die each year from prescription drugs — that’s 270 per day, or, as you put it, more than
twice as many who are killed in car accidents each day. Could you
elaborate on this? Are these people abusing their prescription drugs or
is this a sign of prescription meds gone bad?

Melody Petersen: The study estimating that 100,000 Americans die each year from their prescriptions looked only at deaths from known side effects. That
is, those deaths didn’t happen because the doctor made a mistake and
prescribed the wrong drug, or the pharmacist made a mistake in filling
the prescription, or the patient accidentally took too much.
Unfortunately, thousands of patients die from such mistakes too, but
this study looked only at deaths where our present medical system
wouldn’t fault anyone. Tens of thousands of people are dying every year
from drugs they took just as the doctor directed. This shows you how
dangerous medications are.

DP: You write about a growing market for drugs for children. You say we know little about the long-term effects of prescription meds on kids. Let’s talk particularly
about depression medications and ADHD meds, which seem to be what kids
are mostly prescribed.

MP: In recent years, sales of drugs for children have been the industry’s fastest growing business. Doctors now prescribe pills to children for all kinds
of conditions — from high cholesterol to anxiety. The market for ADHD
drugs has long been a big opportunity for the industry. More recently,
the companies have had their sales reps urge doctors to prescribe
antidepressants, antipsychotics and other psychiatric meds to children.
The result: our kids take more of those medicines than children in other
countries. For example, a study last year found that American children
take three times more attention deficit medications and antidepressants
than children in Europe.

DP: Could you tell me how the prescription med industry is in bed with doctors?

MP: The industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars on physicians every year. In one survey, 9 out of 10 doctors said they had recently taken
something of value from the drug industry. And some of those doctors
take hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from the industry. The
drug companies pay doctors to be their so-called consultants. They also
pay them to sit on corporate advisory boards and to give lectures to
other doctors. They pay for up to 80 percent of the continuing medical
education that doctors need to maintain their licenses. If you ask a
doctor if this is a problem, they will more than likely tell you no. But
the studies show that even a small gift will sway doctors to write a
prescription for a certain drug. The truth is that doctors are no longer
independent gatekeepers who keep us safe from drugs we don’t need. Far
too many of them are financially tied to the industry. They are writing
the prescriptions that their financial backers want them to write..

Views: 41

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by Sweettina2 on July 17, 2010 at 8:57pm
Yep, Monsanto may as well BE the government. Even Clarence Thomas worked for the evil Monsanto. They have this country sewn up in a bag, Byron, but many have awakened to the GMO products, they are no the fastest growing products on the market. Trouble is, how do we know they are actually Monsanto products and lying? We know if they go to court, they own it also. frustrating.

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega posted a blog post

The Cancel Culture Vulture

  Better to shut them down than hear their point of viewCancel culture coming after youHelping to…See More
yesterday
Doc Vega posted a photo
Friday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

The Fingerprint

The Fingerprint On a dance with the unpredictability of the signals you sendA solemn pact with my…See More
Friday
Sandy posted a video
Friday
tjdavis posted a video
Thursday
Burbia replied to Burbia's discussion Trump Receives Marching Orders
Wednesday
Less Prone favorited Burbia's video
Wednesday
Less Prone replied to Burbia's discussion Trump Receives Marching Orders
"Bullets can be effective in reinforcing ownership."
Wednesday
Burbia posted a discussion

Trump Receives Marching Orders

Netanyahu has made 3 visits to the White house since Trump's second term as President of the United…See More
Wednesday
Burbia commented on Burbia's video
Thumbnail

Ben Shapiro Just LOST HIS MIND — There's No Coming Back From This

"Omg. The Ben Shapiro voice that Luke is imitating here couldn't be any more comedic to…"
Tuesday
Burbia posted a video

Ben Shapiro Just LOST HIS MIND — There's No Coming Back From This

Get the magnesium your body needs - https://wearechange.shop/product/magnesium-glycinate/Ben Shapiro Just LOST HIS MIND — There's No Coming Back From ThisHig...
Tuesday
cheeki kea posted photos
Tuesday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Jul 7
Burbia posted a video

A few reasons I don’t like jews. It’s not complicated.

These are the reasons I became antisemitic. It’s not complicated. Sure, I could go on for days, weeks, months outlining everything, but I don’t need to. This...
Jul 6
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Unusual Discoveries and Headlines
"Less Prone, Thanks Buddy! I'd like to volunteer as a historical reconstructionist! "
Jul 6
Less Prone left a comment for t.me/TheIntelligenceLibrary
"Welcome to a revolutionary concept in public communication, the truth."
Jul 6
pohonemas33 team is now a member of 12160 Social Network
Jul 6
Less Prone favorited cheeki kea's discussion Tartaria
Jul 6
tjdavis's 2 blog posts were featured
Jul 6
Doc Vega's 7 blog posts were featured
Jul 6

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted