RUSSIAN ROULETTE?

From:WC Douglass realhealth@healthiernews.com

"Daily Dose-Is Your doctor killing you?

"The American healthcare system is starting to resemble a game of Russian roulette, right down to the stakes: your life.

The National Academies' Institute of Medicine estimates that there are 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries every year. Another study found a 1-in-30 chance that your prescription will be filled out wrong.

And those aren't even the most appalling numbers.

I nearly fell out of my chair when I read "Dead by Mistake," an investigation by Hearst newspaper and TV reporters that found some 200,000 preventable deaths caused by medical injuries and accidents each year.

It's nearly 10 percent of our deaths overall. That's more people than are killed by diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, influenza and pneumonia combined.

In one tragic and inexcusable case, two pregnant women in a Florida hospital were accidentally given drugs designed to force dead fetuses out of the body. One of the women was pregnant with twins, and lost both babies. The other gave premature birth to a girl who suffered severe brain damage.

The hospital blamed poor handwriting on the doctor's prescription, which led to a mix-up in the drugs.

Enough's enough. I'm tired of all the stupid jokes about doctors and their terrible handwriting. Until doctors learn to write legibly, they have no business prescribing drugs.

Computerized systems, where doctors can order meds by typing rather than scribbling, can help prevent these mistakes, but most hospitals are still in the digital Stone Age. A paltry 10 percent of them have these systems in place.

That's outrageous and unacceptable. Fast-food restaurants are more technologically advanced than our hospitals.

This is just one more reason you should hammer your doctors and nurses with questions, especially when they give you meds -- and don't swallow anything until you're satisfied with the answers.

Ask what you're being given, what it does and if there are any side effects (you can bet your bottom that there will be). Then ask to see the label. It's your right, and if they can't or won't show it to you, refuse to take it.

And if you're not in any condition to check up on these things yourself, have someone with you who can.

It's inexcusable that it has to be that way. But the alternative is that deadly game you can't afford to play."

Best advice: Stay healthy and stay away from the medicos and their nostrums whenever possible.

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN