Errors in medication harm at least 1.5 million people each year, and are among the most common of medical errors.
One Error Every Day
Drugs that have similar names to each other are responsible for as many as a quarter of medication-related errors. On average, a hospital patient is a victim of at least one medication error each day.
Patients Need to Watch Out
Patients are advised to make sure they have been given the correct drug, and to read, and make sure they understand and follow, the instructions for all drugs that they take; more than half of all patients do not take their medications as prescribed.
They are also advised to keep a list of all non-prescription drugs, vitamins, and herbal remedies that they are taking, and review this list with their health care provider to ensure that there are no dangerous interactions.
$3.5 Billion Wasted
More than 80 percent of U.S. adults take at least one medication each week, and almost a third take five or more different drugs. The costs of treating medication-related injuries in hospitals alone amounts to $3.5 billion a year.
The number of injuries caused by drug errors is not surprising -- I've reported before the statistics on how the modern health care system is the leading cause of death -- but they are still alarming.
Medical errors like these are a major reason why the current fatally flawed conventional medical paradigm is in such desperate need of transformation.
You know the system needs changing when the majority of health care workers observe mistakes made by their peers but rarely do anything to challenge them. And consider what it means when the death rate actually decreases when doctors go on strike.
The conventional medical system, not heart disease or cancer, is the leading cause of death in this country. But in all fairness, it is not the physicians themselves who are the primary cause of this; they are under the pernicious influence of the multi-national drug companies, who use their money and power to dictate the nature of the medical system.
Because of that influence, the United States is spending $2 trillion every year for a system based on disease management -- that is to say, prescribing continuous drugs and surgery to suppress symptoms, while never actually addressing the underlying causes of disease.
Our return on this investment is profoundly poor. The bottom line is that the system is crumbling before your eyes. The very economic stability of the United States is threatened by this abuse. The good news is that the expense and misery can be powerful motivating factors to change.
In the meantime, if you personally want to take a giant step toward better health for you and your family, as well as eliminate your dependence on the dishonest and harmful health care system, please consider following my Total Health Program, which encompasses all of the proven health strategies I discuss on my Web site and use in my practice -- and life -- every day.