Death By Prescription Author:Ray D. Strand, M.D. A SYSTEM GONE WRONG. — Before 1990, only 3 to 4% of all new drugs in the world were first released in the United States. — Weather you realize it or not, Americans are now the guinea pigs for determining the safety of some of the world's most dangerous drugs. If you have purchased recently released drugs or have taken free samples of medication, ... more »you, too, are part of the great ongoing clinical trial.
DID YOU KNOW....
* The leading drug problem in the U.S. today is not the use of illegal drugs - it is the use of legal drugs.
* Each year there are more than two million hospital admissions due solely to adverse drug reactions, and 180,000 of them result in death.
* When the FDA approves a medication for use by the general publec, less than half of the serious drug reactions are know. To find out about the other half, the FDA relies on the consumer.
If you aren't aware of these facts, and you don't have the tools and information to counter them, you are at risk.
Experienced family doctor Ray Strand writes his patients prescriptions every week, but he also believes that prescribing drugs should be a last resort in most medical cases - not a first choice. In Death by Prescription he provides simple guidelines to help you protect yourself and your family from suffering adverse reactions to prescription medication.
"Every time a physician writes a prescription," says Dr. Strand, "he or she must...weigh the inherent risk of the drug against the possible benefits for the patient. You, too, must weigh your risks against your benefits with a thorough understanding of how the FDA approves drugs and how adverse drug reactions are reported." The role of the patient in protecting his or her own health from a harmful or even fatal encounter with a prescription drug has never been more important!« less