DEADLY PRESCRIPTIONS

IS THERE any place left that's safe?

Now they tell us an average of 106,000 patients die in American hospitals
every year from adverse reactions to prescribed medications.

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported this week on the
lethal side effects of prescribed drugs, and said another 2.2 million
patients suffer serious, but nonfatal reactions to medications approved by
their physicians.

But the sickening and fatal drug reactions were not the fault of physicians
who prescribe the medicines or patients who take them, wrote Dr. Bruce
Pomeranz, principal author of JAMA article. He said the deaths occur
because virtually all medications can have side effects and some are fatal
even in proper doses.

``We're not saying, don't take drugs. They have wonderful benefits,'' said
Pom eranz, a neuroscience professor at the University of Toronto. ``But
what we're arguing is that there should be increased awareness also of side
effects, which until now have not been too well understood.''

But it's not much comfort to the 35 million patients admitted to U.S.
hospitals, when 7 percent of them experience side effects from their
medications.

This is a problem too long ignored by the medical industry, especially when
hospitals have the ability to use computers to monitor patients, their
reactions to their medications and changes in lab test results.

It is only at the hospital level that tracking systems work, but few
hospitals have them, according to doctors familiar with such computerized
setups. With proper tracking, many dangerous side effects are preventable.
Some medicines have safer alternatives and harmful interactions between
drugs can be more carefully avoided. But until such prudent precautions are
taken in all hospitals, most patients are left with a Hobson's choice --
refuse to take their medicine or risk an adverse reaction or even death.

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle