I am deeply perturbed that no one seems to be continuing to highlight or question the alarming ,amazing statistic that 100,000 people die annually in the US due to medications properly prescribed.

This is like the proverbial frog in the pot - named after the observation that a frog dropped into boiling water will immediately jump out; but if put in a pot of water at normal temperature, will sit calmly in the pot while the temperature rises to boiling and will be killed.  

It seems that the vast majority are ignoring this collateral damage to drug use. This includes:

The medical profession;

The pharmaceutical industry (no surprise!);

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA - sadly, in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry and medical profession, so no surprise here either);

The media (again, no surprise, in these days when most of the major media are bending to pressures from government and advertisers); and

Most alarmingly - the public are ignoring the fact that in the US, conventional medicine is the 4th leading cause of death, ahead of violent crimes, auto accidents, and most other problems that can kill us. 

It seems like everybody is gambling that they won't be among the collateral damage of conventional medical care and the irresponsibility of the pharmaceutical industry that puts profits ahead of public safety. After all, the chances are relatively small that any one of us will have one of these unfortunate drug fatalities... unless you happen to be one of the unlucky ones, in which you have been 100 percent killed by your reaction to the medication. (This can hardly be called a 'side effect.' I would deem it worthy of being called a dangerous effect.

I have been unable to locate the registry where drug-related deaths are tracked. I would like to hear some of the stories of these people and their families. Giving this frog a human face and telling its story could change our attitudes in several important ways.

We might take with a much, much bigger grain of salt the warnings of the medical and pharmaceutical community that Complementary/ Alternative Medicines (CAM) and therapies are untested and therefore should not be allowed to be marketed. These modalities, including therapist-provided treatments (massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, spiritual healing, etc. etc. etc. etc.), vitamins in high doses, along with  herbal and other supplements have relatively negligible side effects. Even in a few cases where serious side effects have been noted, they have been nowhere as prevalent and certainly not as frequently fatally dangerous as side effects of conventional medicines.

We might object more vigorously when the FDA and the US Congress maneuver - as they are persistently doing at the moment - to regulate and restrict the uses of vitamins, supplements and other CAM therapies.

 Dan Benor
WHEE-MD