According to a Fox news report, more people die in America every year from prescription drug abuse than die from heroin and cocaine combined.  This leads us to the questions:

1. Are doctors over prescribing?
2. Are doctors closely monitoring drug usage of patients?
3. Are people illegally obtaining prescription drugs?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, most people who die from prescription drug overdose are taking someone else’s medicines, medicines that we left in the medicine cabinet, medicines that were given to a friend or a relative, maybe innocently, maybe maliciously.

In a study done by the CDC it was found that enough narcotics are prescribed every year to medicate each and every adult in America every day for a month.

Thomas Frieden, Director of the CDC, has said “It’s astonishing.  When I went to medical school, we were incorrectly assured, don’t worry, if patients have short-term pain, they won’t get hooked.  That was completely wrong, and a generation of doctors, patients, and families have learned that’s a tragic mistake.”

Although many states have passed new laws to monitor the prescribing of narcotic painkillers, the death rate due to this issue remains high.

A Sheriff of Pinella County in Florida, calls this issue widespread.  “This problem crosses all walks of life, crosses all socio-economic classes.  Crosses all races and gender, national origin, and age”, he said.

Preemies are sometimes given steroids known as glucocorticoids after birth to improve lung function and to stabilize low blood pressure. These are common complications of being born prematurely.  “Premature” is defined as being born under 32 weeks of gestation.

A new study conducted at University of British Columbia and University of CA, San Francisco shows that preemies given the steroids hydrocortisone or dexamethasone had on average a 10 percent smaller cerebellum than premature babies who were not given the drugs.

Lead study author Dr. Emily Tam said: “Their cerebellums were growing slower, and we know from other studies that a smaller cerebellum in preemies is associated with poorer outcomes.”  The cerebellum is the area of the brain that is associated with not only motor skills but also learning and behavior.

The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends avoiding high dose dexamethasone in babies after birth.

The study did not involve those premature babies that were given steroids BEFORE birth.

After a 3-year investigation into the arthritis drug Vioxx, the study revealed an increase of cardiovascular complications after 18 months of use.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Lester M. Crawford stated in a press release that the FDA would closely monitor other drugs in this class for similar side effects. Crawford added, “All of the NSAID drugs have risks when taken chronically, especially of gastrointestinal bleeding, but also liver and kidney toxicity. They should only be used continuously under the supervision of a physician.”

There are many existing lawsuits filed against Merek, the company producing the drug, and Crawford expects many more. The alternative method for patients diagnosed with arthritis is Celebrex, Bextra, and Arcoxia just to name a few.

Everyone wants to believe that if they are admitted to the hospital, the staff is adequately equipped to give you proper care.  That may not be certain today, though.  There is a current shortage on certain drugs leading to the endangerment of patients, disruption of hospital care, and raising the cost of care.

The primary drugs that are in short supply are injectable generic drugs that are ordinarily cheap.  These shortages cause a delay in surgeries and cancer treatments, leave patients in unnecessary pain, and cause hospitals to give less effective treatments, which often results in complications and longer hospital stays.

According to the Associated Press, the shortages could cost hospitals at least $415 million per year.  So far, hospitals have been absorbing the extra costs but they’ll soon have to start passing them on to insurers and patients.

The FDA says the primary cause of the shortages is production shutdowns and manufacturing problems.  Other reasons cited were theft of prescription drugs from warehouses and “gray market” vendors who buy scarce drugs from small regional wholesalers or pharmacies and then sell them to hospitals at many times the normal price.  These “gray market” sellers may not be licensed, authorized distributors.

The average price markup on drugs sold by secondary distributors is 650 percent.  In one extreme case, a vendor was offering a generic beta blocker for dangerously high blood pressure.  The normal price per dose is $25.90, but it was being sold for $1,200 (per dose).

The primary problem with buying stolen drugs is that hospitals can’t always tell whether a medication has been properly refrigerated or is expired.  Using these defective drugs can be dangerous because the active ingredient might have degraded and the drug might not work well or could even harm or kill the patient.

Although the Hospital Association urges hospitals not to buy from unaccredited vendors and to insist on proper documentation of the drug’s source if they must, only three states (Kentucky, Maine, and Texas) have price-gouging laws that specifically cover medicines.

How tired are you? Do you work night shifts? If so, you probably heard of the drug Provigil.

Some say it is the miracle drug, allowing pilots and military personal the ability to stay up and be alert during their shift.

Provigil is also used to treat excessive sleepiness caused by sleep apnea, narcolepsy, or shift work sleep disorder by affecting the central nervous system. That means this medication can also impair your thinking or reactions.

The FDA warned physicians that Provigil might cause mania, delusions, hallucinations, suicidal ideation and aggression, some resulting in hospitalization. It can also cause Steven Johnson Syndrome, a rare and deadly disease.

So really how tired are you? Do we as Americans turn to medications for energy to easily? Does the extra money we could make outweigh the psychological risks?

If you or someone you love has suffered adverse side effects from taking Provigil, contact one of our defective drugs attorneys today.

Is the physical risks of smoking worth the mental and psychological problems that may arise by using Chantix? Changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions make Chantix dangerous.

Chantix is a prescription anti-smoking drug designed to lower nicotine cravings and ease nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Chantix received FDA approval in 2006 after the drug was proven to block the brain receptors responsible for the pleasurable effects of smoking.

In February 2008 the FDA issued a Chantix public health advisory and warning. Prescribing physicians and Chantix users were cautioned that the drug had been linked to neuropsychiatric symptoms, including depression, agitation, and actualized suicidal behavior. In the statement issued by the FDA, the public was also alerted that Chantix may raise the reoccurrence risk of past psychiatric illness or may aggravate current mental illness.

If you have suffered adverse side effects from taking Chantix, call our defective drugs attorneys today and set up a no-cost consultation.

By Lucia Graves, The Huffington Post

According to a new report, industry regulators have known for years that Roundup causes birth defects.

Roundup, produced by U.S. company Monsanto, is the world’s best-selling herbicide.

The report, “Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?” found regulators knew as long ago as 1980 that glyphosate, the chemical on which Roundup is based, can cause birth defects in laboratory animals.

But despite such warnings, and although the European Commission has known that glyphosate causes malformations since at least 2002, the information was not made public.

Instead European regulators misled the public about glyphosate’s safety, according to the report, and as recently as last year, the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, the German government body dealing with the glyphosate review, told the European Commission that there was no evidence glyphosate causes birth defects.

The report comes months after researchers found that genetically-modified crops used in conjunction Roundup contain a pathogen that may cause animal miscarriages. After observing the newly discovered organism back in February, Don Huber, a emeritus professor at Purdue University, wrote an open letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack requesting a moratorium on deregulating crops genetically altered to be immune to Roundup, which are commonly called Roundup Ready crops.

Although glyphosate was originally due to be reviewed in 2012, the Commission decided late last year not to bring the review forward, instead delaying it until 2015. The chemical will not be reviewed under more stringent, up-to-date standards until 2030.

Hip implants aren’t the only defective medical devices giving patients problems.

An Illinois man has filed a product liability lawsuit alleging that he experienced problems with the Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex Porous knee replacement system as a result of a defective design. According to the lawsuit, the design caused the artificial knee to loosen inside the patient’s body and led to the need for additional surgery.

The complaint revolves around the same Zimmer NexGen knee replacement that was the focus of concern at the annual conference of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons last year. In March 2010, data was presented by several prominent surgeons, including Dr. Richard A. Berger, a former Zimmer knee implant consultant, that suggested Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex knee replacement problems resulted in revision surgery in nearly 9 percent of cases examined and resulted in knee replacement loosening in more than a third of the cases.

Although Zimmer previously paid Dr. Berger millions of dollars to work as an orthopaedic consultant, they reportedly dismissed the surgeon’s concerns and canceled their relationship with him. The medical device manufacturer suggested that the problems identified by Dr. Berger were caused by his surgical skills or technique, not the design of the device.

In August 2010, Senator Charles E. Grassley wrote a letter to the Zimmer CEO and President requesting additional information on what the company was doing to respond to complaints about failures with some Zimmer products and whether there were more consultants who had raised concerns about the company’s implants.

In September 2010, a Zimmer NexGen knee recall was issued for other components, including the NexGen TM Tibial Trays, NexGen MIS Tibial Components and MIS Modular Tibial Plates and Keels. The recall was issued after the company received at least 114 reports of Zimmer NexGen knee loosenings and other complications involving those products.

A growing number of Zimmer NexGen lawsuits are being pursued by individuals throughout the United States who have experienced loosening or failure of their knee replacement.

If you have had hip or knee replacement surgery and suffer from defective implants, please call us for professional insight.

2004 Tests Found Chemical Nationwide

Some water utility representatives have protested Environmental Working Group’s report of laboratory tests that found worrisome levels of chromium-6, a suspected carcinogen, in the drinking water of 31 cities across the country.

Yet the tap water industry was worried enough about the contaminant to conduct its own extensive survey in 2004 that found clear evidence of widespread chromium-6 pollution in untreated source water. The survey, conducted by the Awwa Research Foundation (since renamed the Water Research Foundation), an offshoot of the American Water Works Association, obtained data on 341 source water samples from 189 utilities in 41 states. The conclusion: chromium-6 is common in American groundwater.

Tap water industry representatives made no mention of their study when they testified alongside EWG at a Feb. 2 Senate environment committee hearing on chromium-6 pollution. There is no indication that customers of the 189 participating utilities were advised of the chemical’s presence in source waters in their communities.

Chromium-6, also known as “hexavalent chromium,” is often called the “Erin Brockovich” chemical, after the crusading legal assistant who helped residents of tiny Hinkley, Calif, win a $333 million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric Co, accused of dumping the chemical in local ground water. Actress Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich in the 2000 film of the same name.

The 2004 industry study, which EWG obtained from a source and cited in its December 2010 report, “Cancer-causing Chromium-6 Pollution in U.S. Tapwater,” demonstrates that chromium-6 pollution was not confined to California.

“The tap water industry’s 2004 study is unmistakable proof that it has known about extensive chromium-6 contamination for at least seven years,” said Jane Houlihan, EWG senior vice president for research. “Water utilities should tell their customers any time they know that a suspected carcinogen has polluted local waters. People have a right to know what they and their families may be drinking.”

Pollution levels in untreated and treated water are not directly comparable. Even so, the two studies, read together, paint a picture of coast-to-coast chromium-6 pollution.

The industry research group provides its report Occurrence Survey of Boron and Hexavalent Chromium to water utilities and their consultants, who pay four or five-figure subscription fees and a document fee of about $300. (The report can now be bought online for $200 or more.)

EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment.

After reviewing reports on 31 overdoses of the prescription cough medication benzonatate (Tessalon) — including the deaths of five toddlers — the FDA said it was beefing up the drug’s label warnings and urging parents to keep it out of reach of children.

The product is sold in colored gelcaps with a “candy-like” appearance, the agency indicated in a press release.

“Benzonatate should be kept in a child-resistant container and stored out of reach of children,” said Carol Holquist, RPh, director of the agency’s Division of Medication Error Prevention and Analysis. “The FDA encourages healthcare professionals to talk with their patients and those caring for children about the risk of accidental ingestion or overdose.”

The product will remain on the market, but new label information will be added about risks of accidental ingestion resulting in overdose and death in children younger than 10.

Benzonatate was approved in 1958 for treatment of coughs in patients 10 and older. It is available in 100- and 200-mg dosage forms.

An FDA review of adverse event reports disclosed 31 cases of overdose in children and adults, ranging in age from 1 to 66. The overdoses involved as many as 30 gelcaps and as few as one.

Most of these appeared deliberate. However, seven were ruled accidental, all of which occurred in children younger than 10.

Five of these — all involving children younger than two — ended in death.

Cardiac arrest, coma, and convulsions were common in the overdose cases.

In six cases where the event report included information on time course of events, the FDA said, symptoms developed within an hour of ingestion, much faster in some cases.

The agency recommended that healthcare professionals prescribe the minimum number of capsules needed to treat an episode.

Providers should also advise parents to keep the capsules in childproof containers out of reach of children, the FDA said.

Source: John Gever, MedPage Today