Consumer Drugs and Serious Injuries: A Growing Problem

According to an article that appeared in the U. S. News and World Report on September 10, 2007, the number of serious “adverse” drug events more than doubled between 1998 and 2005 in the United States as did a number of related deaths. Adverse event reports are filed when a doctor or hospital realizes that a patient has suffered a serious drug event that has resulted in death, hospitalization and/or other life threatening complications which requires medical intervention to prevent harm. Between 1998 and 2005, the number of reported serious adverse drug events increased from 34,966 in 1998 to 89,842 in 2005. During the same period, the number of deaths related to drug usage increased threefold from 5,519 in 1998 to 15,107 in 2005.
Critics of the federal government contend that the U. S. Food and Drug Administration have relaxed regulations to the point that many drugs are being approved which have not yet been proven to be either efficacious or safe for the public’s use. The statistics seem to bear out this criticism. Because of increased bio-technology and the pressure of the market to introduce drugs prior to comprehensive clinical trials, the reported data seems to indicate that we need a more aggressive government “watchdog” agency than we currently have in the FDA.
Hopefully, these statistics will motivate the government to do a better a job in protecting the public from unsafe drugs. At present, many drugs are causing serious damage to the consuming public. Unfortunately, “the cure is often worse than the cold” when it comes to drugs prematurely rushed to market. These statistics clearly demonstrate that the profit motivated rush to market should be suspended while more emphasis is placed upon safety considerations for the public.