I'm a family doc, and strongly recommend this book. It takes a rational, evidence based approach to the pharmaceutical marketing. There are a lot of good medications, that work well. But the problem is the drug companies have continually expanded the indications for many medications without evidence that they actually help.
My advice to patients is:
1) Don't go to a doctor who gives out "free" drug samples. You will get put on high cost, brand name only drugs instead of more effective, lower cost meds.
2) If you are on a brand-name only drug, then your doctor should be able to explain to you in plain english why this drug is better than a generic, and should be able to back it up with stats showing that it is significantly better
Eye-opening & intelligent (Rating 5 of 5)
» Kellynn
I am currently in Pharmacy school. I read this book because one of my instructors was reading it (for the second time) and he recommended it. It is absolutely true that many journal articles are skewed. Also, many of the health problems that we face can be "treated" with lifestyle changes, such as healthier diets and moderate exercise. After reading this book, I am even more convinced that I want to help encourage people to make the necessary changes to get off their medication if at all possible. I could go on, but I hope that more and more people will read this book carefully and talk to their doctor and/or pharmacist about it
Glad I ordered this book (Rating 4 of 5)
» M. Nelson
I am glad I ordered this book even though I already knew the FDA is not really the friend of consumers.
Drug companies are much more interested in the greenback than the health of consumers. This book goes into specifics on how drug trials are slanted to ignore almost all downsides to new drugs and how some so-called drug trials are really marketing ploys in disguise.
Check it out yourself. You will think twice next time a prescription is offered to you. Ask your doctor how long you will need to take it and about possible side effects. Get the information necessary to be an informed consumer.
Standard medical practice requires a physician to order a prescription if you have certain symptoms such as high cholesterol. What they don't seem to realize is that the possible side effects of the statin drugs are far worse than the touted damage of cholesterol in the 200-250 range.
There are also physicians that say you are in trouble if your cholesterol is LESS than 200.
I suspect the falls many elderly people experience are increased in number by polypharmacy (multiple prescriptions).
Do your own research, too. Aren't you worth the time and effort to do so?
Overdo$ed Is Right (Rating 5 of 5)
» J. Hagg
The author, John Abramson, M.D., is a promary care doctor, as well as a Harvard profesor. He stepped down from practicing medicine to devote two years to researching and writing this informative book. Dr. Abramson's book is a well sritten, easy to understand look at what ails American medicine.
The man has a heart for people and seems to genuinely want to practice prevention and not just prescribe ineffective drugs with many very harmful side effects for disease conditions. Dr. Abramson is not against the appropriate use of medication, but advocates using the safest and most economical drugs and not the extremely expensive blockbuster medications the drug companies are pushing that are usually no better than the cheaper ones and often have even nastier side effects than the older, no longer patented alternative medications. Dr. Abramson is also very much into teaching people about lifestyle habits, such as exercise and diet, that are often way more effective than any drug.
The drug companies have definately put cooperate profits above patient safety. The pharmacuetical companies do most of the testing for new drugs in order to get a patent for them. It's extemely danagerous to let the fox guard the hen house. Big pharma has not only deceived the Amercian public with their lies, but they have mislead doctors with their misrepresentation of the actual results of the drug effectiveness and safety studies they have conducted and report on in the major medical journals. The medical device manufacturers have also put profits above what is best for the patient. As well as being nauseating, television drug advertising is criminal. All these happy people enjoying life,while a few of the drugs side affects are hurriedly given, is horrible.
Americans spend more on health care than any other country in the world, and have some of the highest disease rates of all the industrialised nations. The greedy drug companies and medical equipment manufacturers have wrecked our health care system. It needs a radical overhaul as this book will definately show you. My big question is this: "Is a system fueled by such insatiable cooperate greed even fixable?"
Simply a must read (Rating 5 of 5)
» H. Mosher
If you care about your own health or of those you love, read this book and then start questioning your friends and family about what medicines they are taking. I think you will be surprised and start trying to minimize what you put in your body.
It is a sad time when corporate profit has gone above patient safety.
We need to get drug ads off of television.
We need to question what has happened at the FDA.
We need to change the face of health care.
We need to talk to our doctors and help them work with us for our best care. Unfortunately a lot of them are too busy to realize the influence that big pharma has over them. This book is the wake up call that America needed
(Rating 5 of 5)
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