Petr Skrabanek

Petr Skrabenek died in his fifties of an aggressive prostate cancer. He wrote three books which are free to download here. Petr was human, imperfect I believe, and I wish he'd lived longer. The world could do with more folk like him. Right now we are in real need of BS detectors, whistle blowers and other such courageous types.

We are drowning in bad information. There are vested interests all over the place in the medical drug world. What's best for individual people and the human race all too often, it seems, comes second to profit, power and status. Corporate profit, career enhancement and the need to be able to prescribe quick fixes has resulted in polypharmacy. This has become the norm. Patients, well many of them, seem to prefer it too. The need to be able to give and receive a remedy underlies what seems, at best, like a huge waste of resources. Few of our medical leaders around the world are speaking against this crazy pill popping approach to life.

We thought that those that came before us prescribing poisons like mercury and arsenic were ignorant. How will we look in 50 or more years time?

Although some adverse drug reactions (ADR) are not very serious, others cause the death, hospitalization, or serious injury of more than 2 million people in the United States each year, including more than 100,000 fatalities. In fact, adverse drug reactions are one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Lazarou J, Pomeranz BH, Corey PN. Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: A meta-analysis of prospective studies. Journal of the American Medical Association Apr 15, 1998; 279: 1200 - 1205.

Each year 41,000 older adults are hospitalized—and 3,300 of these die from ulcers caused by NSAIDs Ray WA, Griffin MR, Shorr RI. Adverse drug reactions and the elderly. Health Affairs 1990; 9: 114 - 122.

Drug-Induced Diseases