Unfortunayly, It is widely assumed by many that we are protected against unsafe prescription medications in the U.S.A. This, however, is not always the case. How can our physicians accuratly dose, prescribe, and evaluate any medication that only selectivly reports the effects it may have on the patient?
When using a medication, the doctor can only protect the interests of his/her patients if ALL of the risks of said medications are published and positive/negative effects are reported accurately. If certain results are not only unreported but also the results of said medications are embeleshed to the physician directly, then the physician has totally inaccurate information. A physician can only evaluate a patient medication accuratly if the entire list if posative/negative effects are revealed. Then, and only then, can the physician evaluate the patient on an individual basis for a risk to benefit synerio. A physician uses many different measures to determine a complete medication regime, including age, family history, patients history, patients health, patients weight, patients habbits such as smoking or drinking and exercise, and current medications or medical conditions.
If the manufacturer of the medication is not required to study, prove safe and report its findings, then who is really at fault? The purpose of the F.D.A. is to ENFORCE regulations against false reports, or misleading representation. Their job is to ensure that the information released to our health profesionals is accurate. If THEY will not release or accuratly represent information that they have been given about possible risks and side effects from the manufacturer, who is really at fault? The manufacturers job is not to determine if a medication is safe enough to be released, but to do research and report its findings. It is then up to the F.D.A. to determine if the release of the product is safe for the public.