Since my shoulder replacement, I have been watching more TV than before.. Most of the channels we get up here on cable are American.. They have commercials for medical drugs for everything from baldness to toenail infections.. Yesterday there was one that was for some sort of internal aid to a problem with the intestines.. They always boast how wonderful their product works and then tell you about the possible side effects.. This caught my attention to no end.. The first side effect they warned you about was possible death from taking this medicine...... HELLO !!! ................ Possible death ???....................... Am, I missing something ?? Who in their right mind would take this medicine ?? Why do the networks allow this kind of commercial to air ??
We don't get adverts like that...well at least not since I last watched them. However I can't help thinking that America's penchant for suing for everything might be the reason that there is a caveat in those commercials..
@Steve North .....Greed...that is why. And yes American tv is bombarded with this crap all day everyday. The mute button is my friend.
All side effects have to be reported even if only one person in a million had it...it's the law. Did you ever read all the side effects of a drug? They list everything. One drug can give you diarrhea and constipation, weight gain and loss of appetite etc. I'm one of those people that usually don't experience side effects so I usually don't read them or I'd freak out and actually by power or suggestion have all of them. I do read the interaction warnings though.
Also, the pain med you're taking has quite a few side effects including overdose. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0011542/?report=details#side_effects
Chrissy.. You are right about that.. I haven't taken a pain killer in 3 days and so far, I don't need one either.. As far as getting addicted goes, one can get addicted to almost anything including chocolate.. I am definitely not worried about me getting to the pain killers....
You are not the only one...the FDA is missing something bigtime. Its too busy taking taking stuff off the shelves that has never been proven to be harmful (like mercurochrome), while letting stuff like thalidimide, fenpfen, fosamax, etc., slide on by: https://www.cheatsheet.com/health-fitness/rx-meds-dangerous-side-effects.html/?a=viewall
The U.S. is the only "developed" nation that allows the advertising of prescription drugs I find it disgusting. The drug companies advertise the drugs, then the lawyers generate lawsuits because of the side effects. as Neville said above, the FDA does more harm than good. The entire thing is based on greed.
@Don Alaska How right you are! However, profit-motivation is what developed our country, did it not? Maybe not too important to, say, Thomas Edison, but certainly more so to his lifelong friend Henry Ford. IMO, the far more impacting fact is that of too-much government involvement in everything. One sage once remarked that the highest level of politician involvement in our lives should be that of deciding which intersections receive traffic signals, and nothing more. Frank
I am for capitalism most of the time, but I think it should not be legal to advertise things to the public, who cannot legally purchase them. I'm sure profit could be made by advertising machine guns and mortars (I know, a bit silly, but I am trying to make a point) to high school students. It just wouldn't be right. The advertising affects the treatment options of the professionals who prescribe the medications. I think it is fine to advertise prescription drugs in professional journals and on professional websites, just not to the general public, who, in general, does not have the background to make a judgment on the items advertised.
I would meet you halfway on that one, and say there is way too much government involvement where there needs be way less, and way too little government involvement where there needs to be way more.
The purpose is to encourage patients to pressure their doctors to prescribe these advertised medications, and I think it's pretty effective. I also think it's wrong.
I'm glad someone posted and bumped this thread because I missed it before. These commercials really get to me and they are prevalent. They will say "events, sometimes fatal have occurred" Now what could that mean? All with a pleasant voice and nice music playing. Worry not, it's just and "event" Today I heard on the radio a commercial slamming Stanford Hospital on the high infection rate. I agree, pharmaceutical companies want you to take these meds of coarse as it's all about profit. I also heard, listening to news talk, that MD's in the ER have been talked to when addicts come in screaming for IV Demerol and don't get it as this could reflect on their hospital rating. They want those addicts to give a good rating for the drugs, I mean "care" they got. What the.................
I would suspect its all part of the game in play. Drug companies put millions of dollars into development of drugs they think will net the maximum profit (Viagra anyone?), either know in advance of the atrocious side effects, or become aware of them soon after release. Figure in the cost of future lawsuits in the price charged for the drug, to insure a good final profit, plus bribe the politicians to make laws to make it difficult as possible to win class action suits, limit their liability when they do lose in court, and get their new drug past the FDA with minimal fuss. They then send drug reps to the doctors to bribe them with kickbacks, perks, etc. Advertise their wares on TV so that brainless people will ask their doctors for it...thereby providing the doctors with 'plausible deniability' in case of malpractice suits....and on it goes