Prescription drug death and injury nearly doubles
An article published this week on the Natural News website reports that the number of deaths and serious injuries as the result of prescription drugs more than doubled from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008.
According to a report by the Institute of Safe Medication Practices, researchers found mention of 4,825 fatalities and more than 21,000 serious injuries between January and March, 2008.
The vast majority of the reported fatalities and injuries were attributed to misuse of over the counter pain medications like ibuprofen but 10 drugs accounted for more than 100 fatalities each, more than 20 percent of the total.
The two single most lethal drugs were the anti-smoking drug varenicline — marketed as Chantix — and the blood thinner heparin. While heparin was responsible for killing a 102 people and injuring 779, the vast majority of these cases were associated with a batch of contaminated medication imported from China. Since the discovery of the tainted drugs, injuries and deaths from heparin have dropped off.
Chantix, in contrast, continues to cause high rates of injury and deaths, accounting for 50 fatalities and 1,001 serious injuries in the first quarter of the year. Since its approval in 2006, the drug has been implicated in 112 fatalities and 3,325 serious injuries. Many of these injuries were self-inflicted and stemmed from the drug’s psychiatric side effects, while others stemmed from seizures, blackouts, loss of consciousness and sudden heart arrhythmia.
If you or a loved one has suffered harm after taking a prescription drug, it is important that you seek the professional advice of a defective drug attorney.