Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1907-10-03
PROPRIETARY REMEDIES vs.
PHYSICIANS PRESCRIPTIONS.

STATISTICS snow, OF the Deaths frnn.
Misuse Of Drugs in Two Years, onlv
Three Per Cent. Were Due to paten,
Medicines, According to Figure.
Based on Medical Certificates.
The press committee Of the Propria
tary Association of America will pra.
sent at the next meeting of that bodv
report showing the number of acct.
dental deaths caused by patent medi.
cines in the two years ending June 30.
1907, as compared with deaths from
other causes.
Almost Immediately after the begin.
ming of the latest crusade against
proprietary medicines this committee
was instructed to collect data. This
work was done through the clipping
bureaus, which furnished accounts Of
all deaths, exclusive of suicide, due to
the misuse of medicines, drugs or
poisons. The result showed that only
three per cent. could be traced d.
rectly to the products made by the
members of the association.
The greatest care is said to have
been exercised in tabulating the fig.
ures received. Whenever the cause
of death was doubtful, special inves.
tigation was made, no matter where
the case might have occurred. The
work of asserting and preparing the
record was done in Chicago, and the
original clippings and correspondence
ho Of
Kemp, 1874 La Sale street, that city,
the associations publicity agent The
report says, in part:
ga large number of accidents, re-
sulting fatally or otherwise, were
caused by the carelessness of persons
who left drugs, medicines or poisons
within the reach of children. A large
number, also, were caused by persons
going to medicine cabinets in the dark
and taking down the wrong bottle,
In no case reported was any medicine.
patent or otherwise, held responsible
Tor injury or death except when left
within the reach of children or taken
or administered in gross overdose"
The committee says that it is I'm.
likely that any cases of death from
the use of patent medicine escaped
the newspapers, but that it is prob
able that death from the causes tabu-
lated did occur without receiving pub
l1clty. Physicians, of course, report
the causes of death. The committee
says that they would be the last to
suppress the cause if due to the use
OF medicine not regularly prescribed.
A recapitulation of the committees
findings show 1926 cases of poisoning,
OF which l,753 were fatal The great.
est number of cases, 1885, with 500
deaths, is attributed to medicines
other than proprietary remedies.
There are on the list 80 cases of sick.
ness and 43 deaths due to patent medi.
cines.
Analysing it's statistics, the commit.
tee flnds POI cases of sickness, with
1913 deaths, due to strychnine tablets.
winch are among physicians favorite
remedies and are often left within the
reach of children.
Under the head of miscellaneous
prescriptions are grouped "A cases
"here, the report says, it has been i'm.
possible after diligent inquiry to as.
certain the name or the character of
the drug or medicine which caused in.
jury or death, beyond the fact that
the medicine or drug was prescribed
by a physician. or these cases ~
were fatal. The committee SAYS:
Under the head Of All Patent
Medicines are grouped all those re1n
edles which are recognized as paten+
medicines and which are advertised
direct to the public for internal use
competent authorities say that A.
least one-half of the medicines taken
IN the United States are of tbe l,ind
known as patent medicine and vot
IN two years among 10000, OO(, neo,,,o
there have been but ninety oolao
(forty-three fataD that have haan ~
ported in the newspapers fron ~,
use or misuse of these remedies"
Not in single fully substantiated
case is it ever charged that any pat
ent medicine in recommended doses
was injurious. In this connection it
should be understood that in making
death certificates and in reporting
cases of injury to the newspapers
from which these cases were secured,
a physician had the final word, and
in this connection is there any prob
ability that the doctor will hide his
own carelessness or neglect or that of
a fellow practitioner whose support
he may want at some time, and is
there even possibility that he might
hide any responsibility that could be
thrown at patent medicine? Ask
yourself these questions Then when
you have found the answer, consider
that during all this most thorough
and careful investigation covering a
period of two years, in not a single
established case was it shown that
patent medicine in recommended
doses was injurious.
The most remarkable case reported
was that of an Italian laborer in New
York who suffered from pains in the
chest A physician ordered porous
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