It’s amazing how someone’s miss-fortune could lead to another’s way of life. Because of my mothers choices in life that she had to make, life changed dramatically for her. She ended up having a couple massive strokes and kidney failure that has left her grounded to machines and the dependence of other’s to help her for the rest of her life.
For me her experience has also changed my life for good and bad. One thing that is good that has come out of it was me finding a career as a Pharmacy Technician. That will allow me to help and change others life, but also a career that can damage lifes if you are not careful. The sad thing is when most people think about their experience in a hospital they only remember the nurses and doctors. No one thinks about the person who was responsible for making or taking the order for the medication that helped saved their life. They only remember the bad, like the doctor who was to busy to take real time with the patient to know what they truly need or can not have.
Doctors are all the time in to big of hurry to move on to the next patient that mistakes are made that can not be fixed. Example of this is when people end up dieing from interactions of other prescription drugs or overdosing them in the same type of medications. Luckily for my mom we had to have test done that later provided us with the information that the doctor’s where overdosing here with Tylenol and it was quickly destroying her liver. She was one of the luckier ones not like the many other that have died.
There has even been studies that have shown that more people are killed from prescription drugs each year then people that are killed in traffic accidents. That study has even stated that more then 2 million Americans have suffered a serious adverse drug reaction within 12 month period that has been hospitalized. Over 100,000 have died as a result, and that does not include fatal reactions caused by accidental overdoses or errors. In 1999 alone it was reported that at least 120, 000 deaths was by accidental deaths caused by physicians per year.
The FDA are also to blame for this just as much as doctors. The FDA cut time allowed for drug approvals, which cuts time allowed for these drugs to be tested properly. Without a proper monitoring system it makes it take longer to discover what drugs could be causing problems. Example of this in my opinion would be the Viagra. The FDA approved it a regionally for heart conditions, but later found that one of the side effects would later lead to even more heart problem. So now the drug is still on the market but used only for what the side effect caused, then caution them to limit the use and not to take the medication if the person has or had a heart condition.
Its weird to think about how many people who have died from prescription errors or overdose. But I am thankful because it helps me to be more cautious be for I take any type of medication or before I allow my mother to take hers. But like I have said before there has been plenty who where so not lucky like: Christopher Bowman who was an ice skater, Chad Butler rapper, Teri Diver a porn star, Rory Gallagher a rock guitarist, David Ruffin who was in the band Temptations, and even the most recent death that hurt the nation was Heath Ledger.
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