UK independent: Patients suing after being damaged by overprescription of drugs

boardswalker · 29-12-2011 03:24PM #1

Full Story here - http://ind.pn/vdM0mj

"Doctors are being sued for creating prescription drug addicts amid claims they have failed to follow safety guidelines published more than 20 years ago.

Lawyers and medical experts have reported an increase in clinical negligence cases by patients left physically and psychologically broken by "indefensible" long-term prescribing of addictive tranquillisers such as Valium, collectively known as benzodiazepines.

Patients taken off the drugs too quickly, leaving them disabled with pain for months if not years, are also seeking legal redress. Many say they were never told about the dangers of rapid detoxification, which can lead to seizures and even death in severe cases. Doctors have been accused of being "in denial" about the problem.

Experts have warned of a coming flood of legal action against doctors who failed to inform their patients about the addictive nature of some tranquillisers, currently given to millions of people worldwide. They are prescribed to deal with common social and psychological complaints, from exam stress to relationship problems and bereavement."

Biologic · 30-12-2011 04:16AM

You're some man for posting blocks of text and supporting it with no opinion. What do you think about the matter? Should we create drugs with fewer side effects? How? How should we draw the risk:benefit line?
It's not a thread without a point of discussion. where do you stand so we can talk about it?

sam34 · 30-12-2011 07:08AM

^ indeed.

of all the threads you have created here, I could find only one that contained your opinion in the OP rather than just a link/ copy & paste job.

that's not how this forum works- it's a discussion forum. state your opinion and if it interests others they will engage with you on the topic.

if you keep just posting links/copy&paste jobs then we will just close the threads and suggest you get a blog.

boardswalker · 30-12-2011 04:02PM

Biologic wrote: »

You're some man for posting blocks of text and supporting it with no opinion. What do you think about the matter?

It is my opiniion that health care consumers deserve to be informed of the positives and the negatives of treatments. This article indicates a problem with a specific set of drugs. I think that if patients have concerns about those drugs they deserve to have access to balanced information about the drugs.

Biologic wrote: »

Should we create drugs with fewer side effects? How? How should we draw the risk:benefit line?

Do I know what a rhetorical question is? Of course we want drugs with fewer side effects. We also want drugs where the benefits outweigh the risks.

However, in this case, if you read the article you will realise that there is no evidence to support long term prescription of these drugs. In fact for the main drug referenced, the official Valium Fda page states that "The effectiveness of Valium in long-term use, that is, more than 4 months, has not been assessed by systematic clinical studies."

Where drugs have proven benefits but some risks then there is a decision to be made about the risk-benefit analysis. To do that, we need access to the information about the risks. And if you read the comments following that article, practitioners are not good at communicating about the risks.

drkpower · 30-12-2011 04:22PM

boardswalker wrote: »

Where drugs have proven benefits but some risks then there is a decision to be made about the risk-benefit analysis. To do that, we need access to the information about the risks. And if you read the comments following that article, practitioners are not good at communicating about the risks.

That is certainly true and doctors need to improve massively when it comes to providing such information.

But it is not a one-way street. Patients need to also educate themselves as to the merits and de-merits of the medications they take, and want. Access to information is (relatively) so widely available now that most patients have no excuse for not ascertaining such information and, if they have questions, for not discussing them with their doctor. Making themselves aware of such information should also result in them applying less pressure on doctors to prescribe these medicines, an issue which is partly the reason why there is such over- and inappropriate prescribing.

boardswalker · 30-12-2011 06:22PM

drkpower wrote: »

Patients need to also educate themselves as to the merits and de-merits of the medications they take, and want. Access to information is (relatively) so widely available now that most patients have no excuse for not ascertaining such information and, if they have questions, for not discussing them with their doctor. Making themselves aware of such information should also result in them applying less pressure on doctors to prescribe these medicines, an issue which is partly the reason why there is such over- and inappropriate prescribing.

In principle I agree. However my experience is that many doctors don't like patients who inform themselves (consultants are worse in this regard). In one case, when I raised concerns with my GP, there was no discussion and I was told flatly that if I didn't take the advice, they could not be my GP. End of discussion. I now have a different GP.

Secondly, not all health care professionals are fully informed about products and/or treatments. Once, a hospital doctor tried to deflect my questions by asking "do you think we would be prescribing something dangerous?" A different doctor in the same hospital is on record as stating that there are serious risks with the drugs that I was being prescribed.

I have heard similar stories from family and friends so these are not isolated incidents.

Yes, patients should inform themselves. But - a lot of doctors would prefer if they didn't.

drkpower · 30-12-2011 06:33PM

boardswalker wrote: »

Yes, patients should inform themselves. But - a lot of doctors would prefer if they didn't.

Im sure that describes some doctors; but there are many others - i would certainly say most that i have encountered - who would much prefer if their patients were properly educated. For starters, it would mean a lot less work for doctors. What annoys doctors about 'educated' patients, is those patients who believe they know their diagnosis is right, and refuse to take the advice they came to their doctor for.

But regardless of whether doctors like it or not, patients should inform themselves. It is frightening how many often blindly put themselves in the hands of the doctor and believe that their own involvement in their health, diagnosis and treatment begins and ends when they enter and leave the doctor's surgery.

boardswalker · 30-12-2011 08:58PM

sam34 wrote: »

^ indeed.

of all the threads you have created here, I could find only one that contained your opinion in the OP rather than just a link/ copy & paste job.

that's not how this forum works- it's a discussion forum. state your opinion and if it interests others they will engage with you on the topic.

if you keep just posting links/copy&paste jobs then we will just close the threads and suggest you get a blog.

You have identified yourself elsewhere as a Consultant Pyschiatrist.

Is it appropriate that you moderate a thread about the dangers of long term prescription of certain pyschiatric drugs? Conflict of interest here?

Dr Galen · 31-12-2011 01:57PM

Off topic posts have been deleted

Keep it on the topic in question please

Cheers

DrG

UK independent: Patients suing after being damaged by overprescription of drugs

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