Prescription drug abuse is the use of a medication without a prescription, in a way other than as prescribed, or for the experience or feelings elicited. According to several national surveys, prescription medications, such as those used to treat pain, attention deficit disorders, and anxiety, are being abused at a rate second only to marijuana among illicit drug users. The consequences of this abuse have been steadily worsening, reflected in increased treatment admissions, emergency room visits, and overdose deaths. Explaining the
EMTALA is an unfunded federal mandate. This mandate for universal access shifted the cost to the hospitals. Hospitals and physicians risk substantial legal and financial penalties for violations of the mandate, with consequences as extreme as revocation of a hospital’s Medicare provider agreement (Diaz-Vickery, Sauser, & Davis, 2013). According to the American College of Emergency Doctors (ACEP) under EMTALA the emergency department has the only mandate to provide healthcare. A 2009 ACEP survey on the financial crisis stated, 66 percent of emergency physicians polled have seen an increase of uninsured patients in their emergency departments during the current financial
Should Prescription Drugs Be Advertised to Consumers? Prescription drugs should not be advertised directly to consumers. Many research organizations and pharmaceutical companies argue that prescription drug ads are beneficial to the consumers stating they are informative. However, other organizations counter that Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) drug ads are often just for profit. Prescription drug ads are just a sales pitch, that is not regulated efficiently by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), causing consumers to purchase prescription drugs based on misleading information.
Prescription pill abuse is on the rise in Georgia as well as throughout the United States. Overdose deaths from prescription painkillers have skyrocketed in the past ten years. What is worse is that nearly 15,000 people die from prescription painkillers a year. That is more than the total people who die from cocaine and heroin combined! Prescription pain pills include narcotics, stimulants and depressants, which are the most commonly abused.
B. Prescription drug abuse, especially the abuse of painkillers, is an issue that is all-too-prevalent today, as our nation becomes more and more dependent on medication. C. Through my studies of data and statistics by various branches of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, I have come to more deeply understand this epidemic that is sweeping our nation. Not only have I analyzed numerical data, I have also investigated many stories about the pros and cons of prescription drugs, and about cases where
Management and certain workers should acquire education on drug seeking behavior among patients and workers (Harldorsson 2007). Clinicians need to be taught about the regulations concerning control use of substances and the ethical rules and regulations that follow them. It is essential for doctors to understand their moral duty to their patients and to their employers. Cases concerning ethical violation tend to destroy the reputation of the employers (hospitals), ruining the name of the hospital. It is the work of the health practitioner to acquire knowledge on how to help a patient who gets control drugs from online pharmacies.
The Negative Ramifications of Antidepressant Medications I am very concerned about the increase in the use of antidepressant medications, which have been on the incline for the past 20 years. I believe that most of these drugs are being unnecessarily prescribed to millions of men, women and children every day across America. I notice that every time someone feels a little down or the least bit depressed they run to their physician and receive a prescription for some form of antidepressant which they believe will take care of all of their problems and unhappiness. I think some of the problem lies in the television commercials regarding these medications. When the public sees an advertisement stating that a pill will take away all of their bad feelings, they want to believe it and this is how the doctors and drug manufacturers convince the public that they need these medications.
I don’t necessarily know what the laws should state, but its something that needs looked into badly. Prescription drugs are becoming more of a street drug than thought about. This paper contains information and facts on why I know prescription drugs are being abused and why I think stricter procedures should be taken with usage of prescription drugs. There is also an argument about prescription drugs being too hard to get, which you will read about later in the paper. Prescription drugs that are most commonly abused, classified as Opioids, are OxyContin, Vicodin, and Demerol, which are used to treat pain or relieve coughs or diarrhea.
The most powerful of these types of painkillers is Oxycodone. The trade names for Oxycodone are Percodan, Endodan, Roxiprin, Percocet, Endocet, Roxicet and OxyContin. Two types of the most commonly abused drugs are opioids and benzodiazepines. {Foundation for a drug free world,The Truth About Pain Killers 2005-2007} The abuse of prescription painkillers came to the forefront when high profile personalities sought treatment for addiction to the drugs. In America, more than 15 million people have abused prescription drugs and abuse is on an incline.
The Fight Against Prescription Drug Abuse in America University of South Alabama Deana Lee McHugh Prescription drug abuse is now considered an epidemic in the United States especially among teens and young adults. Nearly one-third of all people twelve and older that have used drugs, started with a prescription drug that was used for a nonmedical reason (www.whitehouse.gov). The general public and the federal government must come together to stop this growing problem. Legislatures must be contacted, laws must be passed and education must be provided. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how prescription drug abuse affects our nation socially, economically, ethically and politically.