Our hospitals are Running Out of Vitally-Important Medicines. Yay.

WASHINGTON – A growing shortage of medications for a host of illnesses — from cancer to cystic fibrosis to cardiac arrest — has hospitals scrambling for substitutes to avoid patient harm, and sometimes even delaying treatment.

"It's just a matter of time now before we call for a drug that we need to save a patient's life and we find out there isn't any," says Dr. Eric Lavonas of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

The problem of scarce supplies or even completely unavailable medications isn't a new one but it's getting markedly worse. The number listed in short supply has tripled over the past five years, to a record 211 medications last year. While some of those have been resolved, another 89 drug shortages have occurred in the first three months of this year, according to the University of Utah's Drug Information Service. It tracks shortages for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

The vast majority involve injectable medications used mostly by medical centers — in emergency rooms, ICUs and cancer wards. Particular shortages can last for weeks or for many months, and there aren't always good alternatives. Nor is it just a U.S. problem, as other countries report some of the same supply disruptions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110530/ap_on_he_me/us_med_healthbeat_drug_shortages

Now the bolded part makes sense, because other countries have socialist---and probably Godless---healthcare systems. But how on Earth could it be happening here??? I mean, we have The Best Health Care System In The World, right?

Right?

:shrug:

Freepers? Wingnut lurkers? Or maybe bonafide DUers who weren't breastfed as infants.

profitable enough.

or could be planned shortages to increases prices.

And Bingo.

Read one article which said pretty much that it was older generic (less profit) that was the biggest problem.

for change by using terrorism as the end all be all of public policy.

Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe 2001
Michael T. Osterholm Ph.d (Author), John Schwartz (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/Living-Terrors-America-Bioterrorist-Catastrophe/dp/0385334818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306798386&sr=8-1

It was written before 9/11 and shows that rigid controls from the top down was the plan from the beginning.

He was rewarded with his own lab at the U of MN. He is known for public health outbreaks but he was no friend to Minnesotans with emerging diseases when he was state epidemiologist.

Talk about a mad fucking scientist.....

<...>

"There are lots of causes, from recalls of contaminated vials, to trouble importing raw ingredients, to spikes in demand, to factories that temporarily shut down for quality upgrades.

Some experts pointedly note that pricier brand-name drugs seldom are in short supply. The Food and Drug Administration agrees that the overarching problem is that fewer and fewer manufacturers produce these older, cheaper generic drugs, especially the harder-to-make injectable ones. So if one company has trouble — or decides to quit making a particular drug — there are few others able to ramp up their own production to fill the gap, says Valerie Jensen, who heads FDA's shortage office.

<...>

Affected companies say they're working hard to eliminate backlogs. For instance, Hospira Inc., the largest maker of those injectable drugs, says it is increasing production capacity and working with FDA "to address shortage situations as quickly as possible and to help prevent recurrence."

But the Generic Pharmaceutical Association says some shortages are beyond industry control, such as FDA inspections or stockpiling that can exacerbate a shortage."

nor should spikes in demand unless due to unforseeable circumstances (like a major epidemic). most meds don't go bad quickly, which means it's rather easy to maintain a cushion for short-term fluctuations.

trouble importing ingredients = same thing. a well-run business has back-up suppliers.

those explanations sound questionable to me.

fewer manufacturers produce generic because they don't like the smaller profit margins.

:rofl:

the thread sunk like a rock.

;-)

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