Prescription for Death?
The other day I found a few articles discussing a number of lawsuits brought against doctors who prescribe deadly drug cocktails to treat Fibromyalgia (a little understood disorder characterized by pain, stiffness, fatigue and depression). What has become known as an aggressive and “erratic, experimental and heavy drug cocktail treatment,” including prescriptions for oxymorphone, oxycodone, and notriptyline, has caused patients to near states of sedation for years. Marriages have collapsed under such treatment and patient employment has suffered. Some patients have even lost their lives to overdose.
The cases generally claim negligence, poor record keeping, and lack of oversight. Doctors are simply failing to give proper instructions for use of prescriptions—often advising patients to manage their own medications and to adjust dosages to see what drug combinations work best. Doctors are failing to adequately monitor their patients. They overmedicate and mismanage patients’ prescriptions and medical records. But worst of all, doctors ignore overmedicated and addicted patient behavior leaving their patients vulnerable and without hope.
Deadly drug cocktails are not specific to patients suffering from Fibromyalgia. There are many other articles discussing deadly drug cocktails. Our soldiers, for example, die upon their return from war after being treated with drugs like Paxil and Seroquel for post-traumatic stress disorder. Deadly prescription combinations are triggered by the desire for weight loss as well. Celebrities are at risk too. Recall, Michael Jackson, who may have died from a combination of painkillers, including Demerol, Dilaudid, Vicodin, Soma, Xanax, Paxil and/or Prilosec and Anna Nicole Smith who died while taking numerous overlapping medications.
