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Lynn pappas's avatar

Thank you for this post. I am not a medical professional but have been responsible for family members with very complex medical conditions. The information provided to patients related to drug impacts and benefits is usually terrible. Even at very high end medical establishments. The doctors seem to have limited understanding on the data of specific drugs and seem to rely on the drug manufacturer summaries to prescribe. As a patient when you really dig into the data the reality is much less “ optimistic” about benefit. Further many of these drugs have substantial side effects or worse yet bad interactions with other meds. I have found a pharmacy consult before adding any new drug to be invaluable. The pharmacist knows more detail of the science. In several cases after taking the pharmacist info to the doctor who recommended a drug the recommendation was withdrawn. I am not blaming the physicians. Who has time to research all these drugs. I do believe the pharmaceutical companies oversell the data which makes the problem worse

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toolate's avatar

James is a WISE MAN:

"It is not our job to convince patients to do something but rather to convince them, where possible, that before a decision is made, they need to appreciate and understand the risks, benefits and harms of what is being proposed. "

How many doctors practice like that? IMO, VERY few

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