Too often, though, just the opposite happens. Medications sent nearly 660,000 people to the hospital last year. In fact, some experts count adverse reactions to prescription medicines as a bigger health problem than illicit drug use.
Older people are especially at risk.
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has suggested that a quarter of the elderly in the U.S. are being prescribed drugs that are more likely to do them harm than good. But no age group is immune to the side effects of medications. For example, about 16,000 automobile accidents each year are attributed to impairment from prescription drugs. Unquestionably, a significant part of the problem is poor prescribing practices on the part of doctors. Pharmacology makes up only a small part of the curriculum at most medical schools, and there is a bewildering array of new drugs to keep up with.