Drug Shortages, another Canary Keels over....Pay attention....

[jsbhike]

Crony capitalist America. If windshield wipers were like Rx drugs, and you had to go to ASE certified shops to get replacements to avoid fines and prison, you would be paying hundreds of dollars a pop.

[chuckman]

Not only have I been in the medical field in some component for almost 30 years, I've also had cancer, my sister had breast cancer, my aunt had lung cancer, my cousin, her daughter, died from leukemia, my uncle had prostate cancer, another uncle had colon cancer. and I currently have three or four others who either have it now or have died from it. All that is to say, I am not sure anyone can move me on my perceptions and tell me I don't have a dog in the fight.

So that said, there are fates worse than death, and dying from terminal and painful disease is one of them. If someone wants a way out of that, not only am I not going to judge them, I might do what I can to help them.

The laws that govern medical providers in our country are about as fouled up as they can get. We can keep someone alive in an ICU who should die, but we are not allowed to assist in a dignified death for people who do not need to be living. Physicians work under "do no harm," and they keep people alive everyday through standards involving harm. sometimes helping someone go out peacefully, painlessly, and with dignity is doing no harm.

[pinzgauer]

Crony capitalist America. If windshield wipers were like Rx drugs, and you had to go to ASE certified shops to get replacements to avoid fines and prison, you would be paying hundreds of dollars a pop.

Meanwhile, the retail (brick and mortar) price for winshield wipers has doubled in the last 10 years, they no longer sell refills, only complete blades.

Some of what you're describing is the Dynamics of retail market and for-profit corporations.

My pharmacy provides several generic prescriptions for free. Stuff like Lisinopril, an extremely common high blood pressure medicine.

[jsbhike]

Meanwhile, the retail (brick and mortar) price for winshield wipers has doubled in the last 10 years, they no longer sell refills, only complete blades.

Some of what you're describing is the Dynamics of retail market and for-profit corporations.

My pharmacy provides several generic prescriptions for free. Stuff like Lisinopril, an extremely common high blood pressure medicine.

Yes costs go up, I still wouldn't count on the meds being free any more than a free George Bush cell phone is free.

[flenna]

The reason we have the range of medications is capitalism. The estimated cost to develop and bring a new medication to market is $1-$1.5 billion. Companies will not develop these drugs if there was no profit incentive. How many medical and medicinal breakthroughs are coming out of Cuba and Venezuela? Granted, crony capitalism has had a negative impact and (somehow) needs to be rectified but we still have the best healthcare in the world. Once the government steps in and takes control innovation will stop.

[lsllc]

I suppose if we didn’t have capitalism all these sick people would be dead because there would be no meds and no MRIs.


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[jsbhike]

Crony capitalism instantly points to the high likelihood innovation has already been retarded by picking winners and losers based on patronage instead of exceptional ideas.

[nimdabew]

Not just drugs....shortage of surgical devices are likewise commonplace. Everything from surgical staplers to suture to bioprosthetic mesh to something as simple (and cheap) as methylene blue dye.

My crews are having a hard time getting typical narcotics for their patients and are reduced to using glass vials during transports on aircraft. The waste from broken vials vs the typical containers for simple things like fentynal are getting hard to find iirc. We are making due, but normal isn't right now unfortunately.

[SteyrAUG]

Not only have I been in the medical field in some component for almost 30 years, I've also had cancer, my sister had breast cancer, my aunt had lung cancer, my cousin, her daughter, died from leukemia, my uncle had prostate cancer, another uncle had colon cancer. and I currently have three or four others who either have it now or have died from it. All that is to say, I am not sure anyone can move me on my perceptions and tell me I don't have a dog in the fight.

So that said, there are fates worse than death, and dying from terminal and painful disease is one of them. If someone wants a way out of that, not only am I not going to judge them, I might do what I can to help them.

The laws that govern medical providers in our country are about as fouled up as they can get. We can keep someone alive in an ICU who should die, but we are not allowed to assist in a dignified death for people who do not need to be living. Physicians work under "do no harm," and they keep people alive everyday through standards involving harm. sometimes helping someone go out peacefully, painlessly, and with dignity is doing no harm.

I think part of the solution is to have somebody other than medical doctors provide assistance. Of course if medical doctors can perform abortions I don't really see the same conflict with assisted suicide.

[SteyrAUG]

I’ve seen my fair share of death. I’ve never felt as much relief seeing people die that, for lack of better phrasing, needed to.

And the reality is, anybody that has the desire can, unless they are a quad or some kind of rare circumstance.

It’s quite an ethical dilemma for parties involved in those circumstances. If they were a quad, the person giving them said elixir is essentially, helping them.

Said elixir, if it contains medications, requires prescriptions and/or pharmacists.

But the same person, assuming they can ambulance, can make their own cocktail out of household items.


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I think you credit too many people with too much know how. Not only is gargling drano probably a really hard way to check out, the probability of screwing it up and surviving for a time with now greater pain seems pretty high.

This is why qualified assistance is so important, to provide the most humane and pain free method possible.