Tragically, his overmedication is not unusual. Studies of outpatients have shown that more than half the drugs being taking are unnecessary. As many as 100,000 Americans die annually from reactions to prescription drugs of all kinds. For antibiotics alone, one estimate finds 20 million nonessential prescriptions written in the US every year.
At any given time, says another published study, 78 percent of people over 65 years of age are on medications -- and half of that group are regularly taking five or more drugs. Strange, often severe reactions to such pharmaceutical stews can too easily be attributed to old age.
Another recent study put its finger on the bigger problem, noting that despite having learned in medical school about systematic approaches to prescribing, "physicians learn how to prescribe in 'real-world' settings ... and they are influenced by their peers, pharmaceutical company marketing, healthcare systems, and patient demands and expectations."
With bacterial diseases continuing to take a heavy toll on humanity, antibiotics are an essential medical tool. But drug companies, armed with a class of antibiotics that's so popular among physicians and on which so many chemical variations-on-a-theme are possible, are not acknowledging the price being paid by vulnerable patients.
Stan Cox is author of "Sick Planet: Corporate Food and Medicine" (Pluto Press, April 2008). He conducts plant-breeding research and writes in Salina, Kansas.
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