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Under-Reporting of Drug Reactions another iatrogenic disease. A patient may even experience Many drug reactions go unnoticed. In Controversies in an iatrogenic complication from a diagnostic test which Therapeutics (1980), Dr Leighton Cluff comments: was required to diagnose the initial iatrogenic disease. The "National Health statistics do not reflect the magnitude situation in which an iatrogenic disease provokes a second of the problem of drug-induced diseases. A death certificate iatrogenic complication could be termed second level iatro- genesis. In a hospital setting these situations are not uncom- not state that the disease was caused by a drug.” mon. It is even possible for third and fourth level iatrogene- 5 . i . sis to occur." anne p= der et vley andi wee y = = Dr Beaty and Dr Petersdorf write in the Annals of Internal Sa ataag a wer fashould be plete wut 4 ph Lei. "Physick "it shou inted out that iatrogenic problems are Dr Leighton Cluff further states: "Physicians are currently not =n S S [po : = required to report observed cases of drug-induced diseases to a eee, " in an effort 2 extricate hime from com- centralized registry." plications of diagnosis and therapy, the physician may In Australia, the reporting by doctors of adverse reactions is vol- i Ayers a —s ay ering a ep Maree untary. Postage-paid forms are provided to doctors who are asked that are in themselves risky. may indicate that a person died of renal failure, but it may to report adverse reactions to ADRAC, Due to complacency, igno- Dr Taylor further explains: : . rance, and perhaps guilt that their prescribed treatment has caused "Every drug administered, every diagnostic test per- harm, most doctors fail to fill in these forms. formed, every operative procedure entered into, carries with it the risk of iatrogenic complications. The more med- ication, tests and operations a patient experiences, the more likely he or she is to develop an iatrogenic disease. Because of the present fragmentation of medical care with each sub- Even when doctors are willing to report ADRs, there are signifi- cant problems that add to the under-reporting of drug reactions. ADRs can sometimes be difficult to identify and Dr Judith Jones, ees ial prs he re aes ieee specialist looking after his own particular organ system, the 1. Didsiculty in dischwuldiing the rosotion fom underlying dis- = to which the patient is exposed is often forgot- eases, or negative placebo effects. R oe 2. Many ADRs have a silent nature and if not specifically looked Preis pone Fy py ale aah mrt — ns for, they may not be found. For example, kidney and liver damage. — ore physicians and other medical professionals are becoming 3. In multi-drug regimes it is difficult to identify the particular —_ increasingly disillusioned with their own profession. Allopathic drug which is causing the suspected reaction.” — medicine has become more of a band-aid treatment. In their Only 5 to 10 per cent of actual cases are believed to be reported —_ attempts to ‘patch-up' symptoms of illnesses, doctors are known to to ADRAC.” In the United Kingdom, which has a similar report- —_ use poisonous chemical-based drugs, radical surgical operations ing system to ours, only 1 to 10 and dangerous radiation, which per cent of cases are revealed.™ often cause more harm than the The inadequacy of the reporting original problem. system in the UK was demon- Apart from introducing more — — .e ‘owt —? — illnesses, allopathic ‘treatments’ a dozen of the 3,, deaths, : mask symptoms of the underlying linked with isoprenaline aerosol eon up to 40 per cent of all causes of the illness, which inhalers during the 1960's, were ‘ . ° inevitably make it more difficult actually reported by doctors at patients in Australia may actually ic°setect and treat, and thereby the time. Peers : . causing it to become more chron- _Because most adverse reac- he victims of doctor-induced ic. tions to drugs go unreported, the . . aT Allopathic medicine can be official estimates must be only (iatrogenic) illnesses. ected end pecsotinee Aie-reving the tip of the iceberg. for emergency situations (for example, car accidents), yet its Who Is To Blame For Drug harmfulness and ineffectiveness Damages? cannot be over-stated. Not only do health officials A prominent critic of allopathic grossly underestimate the extent medicine has been the late Dr Robert Mendelsohn, who exposed of drug reactions, they also try to convince the unwary public that —_ much corruption in American medicine. Dr Mendelsohn published drug-related illnesses are largely due to inappropriate drug usage. _the following best-selling books: Confessions of a Medical Officials try to place the onus on consumers and prescribing doc- —_ Heretic” (1980), Mal(e) Practice: How Doctors Manipulate tors, and reassure the public that problems rarely occur if drugs are © Women ® (1982), and How to Raise a Healthy Child In Spite of used as prescribed. To protect the drug industry from blame, offi- Your Doctor“ (1987). These books are highly recommended. cials purposely ignore the fact that most drugs are harmful; even if In Limits to Medicine, Ivan lich warns: used ‘appropriately’, "The pain, dysfunction, disability, and anguish resulting ss ‘ from technical medical intervention now rival the morbidity Epidemic latrogenesis due to traffic and industrial accidents and even war-related On doctor or hospital induced illnesses, a once active member of activities, and make the impact of medicine one of the most the Doctors’ Reform Society and author of the book Medicine Out rapidly spreading epidemics of our time.” Of Control (1979). Dr Richard Tavlor. writes: Epidemic latrogenesis On doctor or hospital induced illnesses, a once active member of the Doctors’ Reform Society and author of the book Medicine Out Of Control (1979), Dr Richard Taylor, writes: "in fact, because of the increasing complexity of medical technology and the increase in the variety of chemicals available for treatment, iatrogenic disease is on the increase... Unfortunately iatrogenic diseases may be self-perpetuat- ing. Many iatrogenic complications require specific treat- ment, thus exposing the patient to the possibility of yet Doctors Strike: Death Rate Drops With the above in mind, it is not surprising that during a one month physicians’ strike in Israel in 1973, the national death rate reached the lowest ever. According to statistics by the Jerusalem Burial Society, the number of funerals dropped by almost half.” Identical circumstances occurred in 1976 in Bogota, the capital city of Columbia where, there, the doctors went on strike for 52 Vol 2, No 13 - 1993 26¢NEXUS