Ease Up but Still Enjoy Gardening as You
Age
The Fierce Dedication of a
55-Year-Old Cyclist Commuter
Senior Investment Savvy No Guarantee in Preventing Fraud
Atria El Camino Gardens Resident Celebrates 100th Birthday
Even Light Exercise Decreases Chance of Illness, Death
Medigap Changes Take Effect — Premiums Expected to Climb
Women of a Certain Age: Honey, Why Is There Caution Tape Around the TV?
Ken's Corner: What Happened to the Lady With Two Cocker Spaniels?
Senior
Health:
Medication Errors Can be Deadly
By
Mia Smitt
Nurse Practitioner
Sacramento Family Medical Clinic
More
than 224,000 deaths have occurred over the past 20 years due
to medication errors. These are not the highly publicized hospital
errors or mistaken prescriptions written by hospital and community
health care providers. These are not mistakes made by pharmacists
when they fill prescriptions. These fatal errors occurred at
home when medications were not taken properly, were mixed with
alcohol or illicit substances, or were taken with other prescription
drugs that may have intensified their effects.
An analysis of 50 million death certificates nationwide showed an increase from
1,132 medication mistakes by patients in 1983 to 12,426 in 2004. This a 700 percent
escalation compared to a 5 percent rise in fatal medication errors in hospitals
or other health care facilities.
The lead author of the study is sociologist David P. Phillips, Ph.D., from the
University of California in San Diego. “The amount of medical supervision
is going down, and the amount of responsibility put on the patient’s shoulders
is going up,” said Dr. Phillips.
The study team blame the dramatic rise in the use of potent prescription painkillers
and other strong drugs that were only given in controlled settings (such as hospitals)
25 years ago. Sadly, the number of deaths is rising yearly.
Abuse of prescription drugs is a factor in the statistics, but it is uncertain
what percentage of deaths is directly attributed to deliberate misuse. Legitimate
prescriptions for such pain medications as oxycodone (OxyContin), methadone,
and even hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco) taken incorrectly account for an ever increasing
number of deaths.
Pain management is considered an integral part of health care, and most health
care providers are no longer afraid of adequately treating serious pain issues.
There are far more narcotics in more homes now than there were even 10 years
ago, so the opportunity for errors is ever increasing.
There are more medications available, and we are using more drugs for problems
we may have not treated chemically a few years ago. “We’re sort of
drug happy,” said J. Lyle Bootman, Ph.D., dean of pharmacy and professor
of medicine, public health, and pharmacy at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
“We have this general attitude that drugs can fix everything,” he
said. People share prescriptions, he reported. A recent study found that 23 percent
of people surveyed say they have given their prescription medicine to someone
else, and 27 percent said they have taken others’ drugs. You-Tube and teen
blogs illustrate that it is easier to get Vicodin, Soma and OxyContin than it
is to get beer.
People take multiple medications at once, such as painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs,
sleeping pills, diet drugs and other stimulants which may be prescribed correctly
but taken incorrectly. Actor Heath Ledger recently died from “mixed medications.” These
fatal interactions in celebrities cause headlines, but do they cause questioning
of the numerous medication regimens that have the potential for devastating consequences
when taking incorrectly?
Jeffrey Jentzen, M.D., is president of the National Association of Medical Examiners
and director of autopsies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “When
we see overdoses, we’re seeing many more mixed-drug overdoses,” he
said. He also noted that autopsies are more likely to include toxicology testing
than 25 years ago, which would certainly increase the identification of fatal
medication errors as a cause of death.
The highest death rates took place when people mixed medications with alcohol
or street drugs. Cynthia Kuhn, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at Duke University
Medical Center found that many people ignore the risks of mixing alcohol with
prescriptions. “They think, ‘Oh, one drink won’t hurt.’ Then
they have three or four,” she said.
The overall increase in deaths was highest in people in their 40s and 50s.
Don’t become a statistic. Take your medication as prescribed. Don’t
take others’ prescriptions. Do not mix medications with alcohol. If you
have questions about safety, don’t hesitate to question your health care
provider or pharmacist.
Mia Smitt, a Sacramento native, is a family nurse practitioner who has given
presentations at national conferences. She is married with two kids (one currently
serving in Iraq) and works at Sacramento Family Medical Clinic at 3637 Mission
Ave, Carmichael.
This page and its contents ©2010 Metropolitan News Company, Inc.
