What in the world is going on with the misuse of prescription medications?
In an article by the Boston Medical Center’s Grayken Center for Addition Medicine, published in the American Journal of Public Heath states that one (1) out of twelve (12) doctors in the United States has received one payment or more from a pharmaceutical manufacturer to support and prescribe their medicine. There are some frightening points make by this report which include:
• Over $46MM has been paid out to over 68,000 physicians over the past 28 months.
• Some of the higher payments have exceeded $2,500 to physicians to promote the pharmaceutical manufacturers product.
• The top 1% of physicians receiving non-research opioid-related payments totaled over $38MM, a staggering amount of influence.
One of the principal authors of the Boston Medical Centers’ report, Dr. Scott Hanland has said, “Even though most payments were small, they add up to a shocking number and may have a wide-reaching influence on physician behaviors.” The news outlet, Natural News reports that doctors that even accepted a meal from the sales people or executives from these drug makers were found to be more likely to prescribe the manufacturers product to their patient.
And what happens once patients become addicted to these opioid based painkillers? Many turn to street drugs or other cocktails to keep themselves on a high and in addition to the general health risks, this now crosses a line to severely dangerous and illegal behaviors that can have dire consequences resulting from increasingly risky and unlawful behavior.
In this real narrative, there is real tragedy. An innocent person becomes the victim of addiction through no fault of their own influenced by perceived safe and necessary medicine prescribed by a trust physician. According to a news article by Andrew Seaman this is a wide spread crisis affecting over one third of American adults.
With one in three adults being impacted, there is a good chance that you, or someone close to you has been affected by this epidemic. The Law Offices of Tawni Takagi has a special practice in the area of Dangerous Drug Tort and can be a meaningful partner to helping you or your loved one get the legal assistance needed once made the victim of any drug found to cause impairment. In addition to the issues around opioids as discussed above, there have been countless examples of blood thinners, cholesterol and other prescription medications harming the patients they’re supposed to help.
If this has happened to you, call us at 310-954-7248 for a free consultation. If you are in need of a personal injury attorney in California, then the Law Office Of Tawni Takagi is the lawyer to contact. She and her law firm can be reached at https://www.losangelesinjurygroup.com or you can call her directly at the following number (310) 954-7248.