Because prescription drugs alleviate individual symptoms, dependency on medication rises. In the United States, Americans take simple medications to alleviate a single symptom such as a headache or sore throat. These illnesses are common, causing antibiotics to be one of the most over-prescribed medicines in the United States. Additionally, Americans with serious illnesses depend on various prescriptions to get rid of their symptoms. Reporter Katharine Greider writes in the book Are Americans Overmedicated?, “Many patients take one drug just to combat the side effects of another” (11). Taking multiple prescriptions everyday becomes common to anyone in the United States who treats serious illnesses with medecine. Some may argue that using multiple …show more content…
Manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies highlight the economic success of pharmaceutical business in order to show the positive aspects of taking prescription drugs. Often times, doctors feel pressured to maintain success in their field whether it be providing treatment or prescribing medicine. When Atul Gawande, a general surgeon and Harvard professor, reviewed some of his previous cases, he found that seven of eight patients went through unnecessary treatments. After detailing the specific cases Gawande concludes “Millions of people are receiving drugs that aren’t helping them, operations that aren’t going to make them better, and scans and tests that do nothing beneficial for them”. Gawande’s findings are not rare cases, the Maurice A. Deane School of Law published an article explaining the corruption of United States health. This article describes overmedication as a problem that may cause immunity to effective drugs such as painkillers. When connecting corruption to this issue, the article reads “pharmaceutical representatives pressure doctors into prescribing particular drugs by offering financial incentives to the doctor” (Major). Although financial incentives are not always involved, pharmaceutical representatives still pressure doctors to maintain a high number of prescriptions. This pressure stems from representatives’ desire for rising …show more content…
Often times during a commercial break, long ads inform viewers on medications that alleviate symptoms one may face. Some argue that DTC ads empower consumers to recognize their symptoms and find solutions (Antony 72) however seeking your own solutions may be misleading. DTC ads although beneficial have serious dangers if patients use them as a main source for medical information. In New York times article, “Consumer Drug Advertising Should be Banned”, professor of family medicine, Kurt C. Stange explains, “Research has shown that the ads convey an unbalanced picture, with benefits and emotional appeals given far greater weight than risk” (Stange). DTC ads misinform consumers on the dangers of taking the advertised prescription, distracting them from taking precautions as they ask for medication. The FDA not only agrees that DTC ads do not balance information about risks and benefits but states “Eight percent of physicians said they felt very pressured to prescribe the specific brand-name drug when asked” (The Impact). Despite having benefits, DTC ads should be marketed in a way that prevents patients from being distracted from risks. It is the job of the doctor to prescribe a patient with the appropriate medicine, not the job of the patient to diagnose
Dr. John Abramson’s book Overdosed America debunks the myths about the excellence of American medicine. Abramson backs up this claim by closely examining research about medicine, closely examining the unpublished details submitted by drug manufacturers to the FDA, and discovering that the unpublished data does not coincide with the claims made about the safety and effectiveness of commonly used medicines. Abramsons purpose is to point out the flaws of the pharmaceutical industry in order to warn the readers about the credibility of the drugs they are buying. Given the critical yet technical language of the book, Abramson is writing to an audience that may include academic physicians as well as those who want to learn about the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing of pharmaceuticals has grown increasingly in the past decade. The American public views prescription drug advertising for a wide range of medical conditions, including high cholesterol, depression, allergies, and erectile dysfunction. The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the content of these advertisements. Critics also have taken the position that the advertisements garner unearned trust from the public, are misleading, and promote unnecessary use of prescription drugs for common problems associated with aging. Proponents counter that DTC ads help eliminate stigmas associated with certain medical conditions, give patients an active role in their health care management, and encourages the doctor/patient relationship. There have been calls for bans on DTC pharmaceutical advertising, but the practice is protected under a business’s right to free speech. Regulation changes, particularly requiring the FDA to pre-approve marketing campaigns before they are released to the public, may be one way to appease opponents, while protecting the rights of pharmaceutical manufacturers to advertise to the average American consumer.
In some instances, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States misleads both the public and medical professionals by participating in acts of both deceptive marketing practices and bribery, and therefore does not act within the best interests of the consumers. In America today, many people are in need of medical help. In fact,the Federal Trade Commission estimates that 75% of the population complain of physical problems (Federal Trade Commission 9). They complain, for example, of fatigue, colds, headaches, and countless other "ailments." When these symptoms strike, 65% purchase over-the-counter, or OTC, drugs.
DTC advertisements aim to persuade that their possibly less effective drugs work better than other drugs rather than to inform consumers of correct information about drugs. The reason that pharmaceutical companies abuse the power of DTC advertising is because the pharmaceutical industry does not have a strong ethical code for advertising; their sales are so obsessed with profits. To solve this problem, policy makers should prohibit indiscreet DTC advertisements on air and fund more informative services about new drugs so that patients could make clever
The United States of America accounts for only 5% of the world’s population, yet as a nation, we devour over 50% of the world’s pharmaceutical medication and around 80% of the world’s prescription narcotics (American Addict). The increasing demand for prescription medication in America has evoked a national health crisis in which the government and big business benefit at the expense of the American public.
These ads misinform patients, encourage over-medication, and pressure doctors and medical providers. The counter side states that prescription drug ads educate patients, encourage the correct usage of drugs, and cause patients to ask their doctors about possible treatments. Both sides have examples and evidence, but the cons of prescription drug ads are stronger. The pros explain how some lives can be improved. However, the cons focus on the dangerous effect these ads have on the viewers. Although these drugs are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, DTC prescription drug ads can be manipulated to have catastrophic effects on the
Doctors work under intense pressure, and if a pill could fix a patient’s problems than many saw nothing wrong with that. What exacerbated the problem was that many hospitals also changed their modus operandi with regards to treatment. In some hospitals, “doctors were told they could be sued if they did not treat pain aggressively, which meant with opiates (95). However once the patient became addicted and could no longer get their prescription legally refilled, the drug dealers saw their chance. What is surprising is the fact that pharmaceutical companies acted in the same manner as drug dealers. Both sides did not care about the end user, and the problems they would have to deal with after using what was given to them. Their motive was purely to profit as much as possible, and they did not care about who would get hurt as a result of their
Although writing a prescription may be an easy way to put a bandaid on a problem, people tend to forget that medication can’t be responsible for curing our nation. Slowly we are becoming a country where pills are handed out like candy, causing a severe series of negative effects and downfalls. Ray Bradbury, the author of the award winning novel Fahrenheit 451, is definitely in agreement. In 1951, when the novel was written, Bradbury was able to make the prediction that the innocent use of medication would soon turn into an extreme drug epidemic, and unfortunately he wasn’t wrong. The overuse of drugs in the United States, such as mental illness medication
In America, it has become a battle to earn a high paying job to cope with the expenses of a typical American. It has become even more of a battle for some people to afford medical prescriptions to keep healthy. Health becomes a crucial issue when discussed among people. No matter what, at one point or another, everyone is going to stand as a victim of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line is Americans are paying excessive amounts of money for medical prescriptions. Health-Care spending in the U.S. rose a stunning 9.3% in 2002, which is the greatest increase for the past eleven years. (Steele 46) Many pharmaceutical companies are robbing their clients by charging extreme rates for their products.
The United States is world renowned for its medical system. Names like the Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins, and Duke are all common household names when it comes to ground breaking medical service. Many people from across the planet come to the USA to have medical procedures done. But is it really all that? According to Michael Moore and his 2007 documentary entitled, “Sicko” the USA’s medical system is not as great as it seems. Corruption, a word that is defined as the impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle, is running rampant in the medical system. Moore uses vivid imagery, intense interviews, and concession to persuade his audience that medical industry is corrupt in a way and that universal or more affordable healthcare is not that
Kaphingst, K. A. (2004). A Content Analysis of Direct-to-ConsumerTelevision Prescription Drug Advertisements. Journal of Health Communication,Volume 9: , 515–528,.
Today, a full 61 percent of adults use at least one drug to treat a chronic health problem, a nearly 15 percent rise since 2001. In today’s society doctors around America are abusing the privilege to prescribe medicine. This then causes the issue of overmedication. Americans who are being prescribed drugs that are not needed for them have more risk of side effects. The long-term effects are dangerous and have caused numerous children hospitalized. Americans who are buying treatments for ADHD, depression, and many more disorders have spent over 4 billion dollars in the past year. Prices are increasing because the desires for these drugs are becoming more prevalent. Overmedication is a global issue that is affecting children that come from many different backgrounds and live in many different areas in America.
In recent years’ health reform has been a driving force in the United States political system. If you watch the news, you will understand how citizens, the government, or the economy are or might be affected by some sort of change in medical regulation. One of these hot topic issues is the cost of prescription drugs. Every major drug market besides the United States regulates the price of drugs in some way (Abbott and Vernon). By the United States not doing so, many believe it opens consumers up to being exploited by large pharmaceutical companies.
It is also easy to see the American people’s infatuation with drugs by simply looking at our current number of prescriptions filled at pharmacies annually. An active data table hosted by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation states that about four billion prescriptions are filled annually (Kaiser). This is enough prescriptions for every person in the country, children and adults, to have twelve each. Once a person is on a drug, it is often hailed as an immediate fix to the problem, but many don’t think or just don’t care about the long-term side effects it could hold.
They used direct-to-consumer ads in television and in magazines to bring awareness to the most recent drug along with information about illnesses (Rhee, 2008). These advertisements may expose symptoms that are considered to be widespread and treatable with the use of drugs, promising the viewer to be returned to normal function (or what we consider non-deviant behavior). Consider the condition, social phobia, as an example of how advertisements have generated demand and interest in the public. Consequently, it has also generated revenue for the drug companies. The prevalence of social phobia was considered to be rare in the 1980’s, however it has been considered common by 1994 (Kitsis, 2011).