Who Cares About Those Elderly Anyway???
When it is OBVIOUS that children react differently to drugs and need smaller doses, why the HECK is THIS allowed:
Reported in CBC News
Drugs killing thousands of seniors yearly
OTTAWA - A CBC News investigation reveals that Canadian seniors account for 44 per cent of adverse drug reactions causing death that are reported to Health Canada, even though they make up just 13 per cent of the population.
INDEPTH: Prescribed to Death - Seniors and drugs
CBC's analysis of Canada's adverse drug reaction database, obtained from Health Canada under Access to Information laws, suggests up to 16,500 elderly patients have died due to suspected drug reactions in the last five years.
"The way it's been calculated by CBC I think is quite cautious and is realistic," said Dr. Jim Wright, a clinical pharmacologist who studies the adverse effects of drugs. He's also the managing director of the Therapeutics Initiative at the University of British Columbia.
Older people are more vulnerable to drug reactions partly because they use more drugs than the general population. Seniors are also more vulnerable because they metabolize and excrete drugs more slowly."
But when drugs are being developed, they're rarely tested in seniors, so their effects can be a surprise, says Dr. Robyn Tamblyn, an epidemiologist and researcher at McGill University.
"When a drug is approved to come into the market, you're almost in an experimental situation when you're trying it out on people for which it was never tested," said Tamblyn.
Tamblyn says that in a given year, nearly one in 10 seniors who take drugs will have a reaction serious enough to put them in hospital......
Read it ALL
First it is the unborn child that is discarded.. now the elderly and handicapped....
WHO'S NEXT?
Those claiming that Social Security doesn't need a fixin', I have a question:
Maybe you don't want to talk about YOUR plan to fix the problem because you don't foresee too many being around long enough to NEED Social Security for very long; am I on to something here?
Reported in CBC News
Drugs killing thousands of seniors yearly
OTTAWA - A CBC News investigation reveals that Canadian seniors account for 44 per cent of adverse drug reactions causing death that are reported to Health Canada, even though they make up just 13 per cent of the population.
INDEPTH: Prescribed to Death - Seniors and drugs
CBC's analysis of Canada's adverse drug reaction database, obtained from Health Canada under Access to Information laws, suggests up to 16,500 elderly patients have died due to suspected drug reactions in the last five years.
"The way it's been calculated by CBC I think is quite cautious and is realistic," said Dr. Jim Wright, a clinical pharmacologist who studies the adverse effects of drugs. He's also the managing director of the Therapeutics Initiative at the University of British Columbia.
Older people are more vulnerable to drug reactions partly because they use more drugs than the general population. Seniors are also more vulnerable because they metabolize and excrete drugs more slowly."
But when drugs are being developed, they're rarely tested in seniors, so their effects can be a surprise, says Dr. Robyn Tamblyn, an epidemiologist and researcher at McGill University.
"When a drug is approved to come into the market, you're almost in an experimental situation when you're trying it out on people for which it was never tested," said Tamblyn.
Tamblyn says that in a given year, nearly one in 10 seniors who take drugs will have a reaction serious enough to put them in hospital......
Read it ALL
First it is the unborn child that is discarded.. now the elderly and handicapped....
WHO'S NEXT?
Those claiming that Social Security doesn't need a fixin', I have a question:
Maybe you don't want to talk about YOUR plan to fix the problem because you don't foresee too many being around long enough to NEED Social Security for very long; am I on to something here?
posted by Straight Up with Sherri at
5:46 PM
6 Comments:
Let's remember that correlation is not causality. I dare say that seniors take far more medicine than younger folks, so of course they'll have more adverse reactions. Yes, there's prejudice against seniors, but I don't think there's anything evil afoot in this particular factoid.
Geriatric medicine is being given a lot of focus in the field. I'm an EMT, and we regularly get training in meeting the special needs of the elderly. Most of our calls, after all, are for older people with medical problems, not for young people suffering trauma emergencies.
By
Christina Dunigan, at 7:25 PM
Drug doses and its side affects can vary from person to person. I have noticed that even my own grandmother doesn't consume large portions of foods while taking her medications. Most of time, I don't think seniors realize that the warning label on the bottle stating "take with food" means more than just sipping coffee with medications.CBT2025
By
Anonymous, at 8:29 PM
I think another thing that needs to be considered is the fact that some seniors may forget to take a dose of medication and try to double up at the next does. This will also cause an adverse reaction. Also if they are taking several different meds at one time. Another thing to consider is how many of these seniors are consuming alcoholic beverages with their medications?CBT2025
By
Anonymous, at 8:33 PM
I agree with all of this, taking double the pills to make up for a forgotten one, not eating as much food as one should. This is why it is so important to follow direcitons the first time and even more important now for doctors to be on the top of their game.
By
Anonymous, at 10:30 PM
Sorry for the repeat but I forgot to put my name on this.
I agree with all of this, taking double the pills to make up for a forgotten one, not eating as much food as one should. This is why it is so important to follow direcitons the first time and even more important now for doctors to be on the top of their game.
GCD8348
By
Anonymous, at 10:31 PM
THIS HAPPENS BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF DEATH AND LOOK FOR THAT FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH INSTEAD OF GOING OUT ON TOP
DW7448
By
Anonymous, at 12:38 AM
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