Patients should pay close attention to the drugs their physicians prescribe. Ask you pharmacist to provide you with information about adverse reactions of each drug you are prescribed as well as the synergistic (combined) effects of taking various drugs together. Often, patients are prescribed one set of drugs by one physician and another set by another physician. Make sure that each of your physicians knows what other physicians have prescribed for you.
Make sure the labeling on the prescription specifically identifies the number of pills you are to take each day, as well as the time of day the pills should be taken. An important article appearing in the January 2011 issue of Vanity Fair reports that approximately 200,000 people a year die in America from prescription drugs that are considered "safe". This is three times the number of people who die each year from diabetes, four times the number who die from kidney disease and approximately five times the number of people killed each year in America from automobile accidents.
In 1996, Gov. Engler and the Republican Legislature passed a law in Michigan that gives immunity from suit to any manufacturer whose products are approved by the FDA. This includes all prescription drugs. Former democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm was unable to change this law because the republicans controlled the State Senate. Now, the republicans control the governorship and the Michigan Supreme Court, so changes in the law are unlikely. For this reason, since patients do not have adequate legal redress, and because of common sense, patients must vigorously look out for their own personal interests by scrutinizing the labels of the drugs they are prescribed as well as reading available information from pharmacists and the internet on the drugs they are prescribed.
After a dozen or so deaths linked to runaway Toyotas, Japanese executives were called to Washington to testify. When the pharmaceutical industry meets with lawmakers, it is mainly to provide campaign contributions. Caveat emptor (buyer beware).
If a pharmacist mis-fills a prescription, or if a doctor prescribes a medication that is not indicated for your clinical condition, and you sustain an injury, please feel free to call J. Douglas Peters at Charfoos & Christensen, P.C. with your questions.
CHARFOOS & CHRISTENSEN PC
5510 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48202
(313) 875-8080
www.c2law.com
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