You've all heard about this: Shortage of medicines kills some US patients

[sinkingfeeling]

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/23/shortage-of-medicines-kills-us-patients/?hpt=T2


Shortages of some 150 crucial medicines have killed at least four hospital patients, according to reports from a patient safety group.

One of the hospital drugs in shortage is morphine, and two patients died of an overdose when hospitals substituted a more powerful drug instead, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP).

Another patient died when doctors had to use diluted epinephrine, which is also in short supply. A fourth patient died when they couldn't get the antibiotic they needed to treat their infection.

"This is a big deal," says Michael Cohen, president of ISMP.

[TorchTheWitch]

1. shortage of affordable meds kills a shitload more people

But we don't seem to care about those people that can't afford to buy the meds they need and ARE available. If they don't have the money, they can just die.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. +1

A dear friend is dying from diabetes. She has no insurance. Her family is in debt 1/4 of a million dollars so far. So sad I can barely stand to think about it.

[gratuitous]

2. Sure, we hear all about this

It's just so boring anymore! Why can't we get vital news, like what the Jets' Coach's wife is posting online, or whether Lindsay Lohan is getting along with the staff in rehab? Instead, it's just "OMG! More people are dying because hospitals and clinics can't get adequate supplies of crucial medications." Jeez, just get off it already, lamestream media! I need to know if Levi Johnston has a new girlfriend or not. NOW!

[elias7]

3. The use of hydromorphone (dilaudid) due to morphine shortages should not have caused deaths

The ISMP website says that "IV HYDROmorphone prescribed at the intended dose for morphine and administered, resulting in the death of two patients". That's a medical error and really has little to do with morphine shortages, IMO. Most hospitals use dilaudid in preference of morphine anyway (demerol being slowly phased out now, too), and misdosing dilaudid should not happen because of unfamiliarity with the drug and its dosing. A practitioner should not be prescribing a medication they are unfamiliar with, and if they are, pharmacist would help with input and nursing should be questioning the dose prior to administration. That's not a mistake that should happen and there is liability there.

The antibiotic and the epi.... a little more explicable

[spinbaby]

4. I thought Dilaudid was the better drug anyway

I've had some recent medical misadventures that have left me in the unenviable position of being able to compare a morphine drip to a dilaudid drip. Dilaudid is better hands down--better pain control, less nausea.

[Lyric]

6. Well I can't speak for anyone else, but Dilaudid is what works best for me.

I only need it when I'm having a kidney stone attack, but morphine makes me violently ill and short of breath. Dilaudid feels like a kick in the guts when they're first pushing the shot, but that feeling fades quickly and it works extremely well after that--no nausea.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Let me get this straight, EPINEPHRINE is in short supply?

JEESUS...

I mean Morphine is borderline ridiculous but Epi is like used for far more things, ranging from an allergic reaction to a code...

Yes, it is a big fucking deal that meds that are USED every day even in ambulances, are in short supply.

[BlueIris]

8. Agreed. Scary. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. We have entered some kind of a crisis

no other way to explain this.

[felix_numinous]

10. Is Big Pharma in charge of drug supplies?

Aren't they making enough profits? I am confused at the root cause of this 'drug shortage'.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I am guessing that part of the problem is that

believe it or not, especially with generics, medicines are no longer done in the good ol' US of A... but import from Canada... nope, we can't do that.

[tpsbmam]

12. It's MONEY....it's big fucking Pharma and money.....

Some other drugs in short supply: heparin. HEPARIN -- jesus! Quite a few chemotherapy drugs. Lidocaine 2% emergency syringes. There are about 150 -- you can see the list here: http://www.ashp.org/DrugShortages/Current/


http://abcnews.go.com/Health/CancerPreventionAndTreatment/largest-hospital-drug-shortage-decades/story?id=12452389

Limited manufacturing, lagging production time, and lack of profits from these drugs are contributing to the shortage, according to an August 2010 editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The production cost outweighs the profits for some companies. Since many firms would rather produce cheaper generic drugs, manufacturers are shunning some costly brands.

Doctors at local hospitals are frustrated and many times they're not even informed of the shortage, according to survey results released in September by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Of those surveyed, 85 percent said they were given little to no information on how long the shortages would last.

You done sucking up to big pharma yet, Washington? No? Hmmmm, maybe if a couple of you go to the hospital and can't get life saving meds....maybe then?

Oh WTF...we're just plain screwed.

[LongIslandGuy]

13. Gotta fix medicine