Once the bureaucrats start a “WITCH HUNT”.. only THEIR FACTS MATTER.. VICTORY AT ALL COSTS

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

witchhunt

Embattled Dr. Mark Ibsen closing Helena practice

http://helenair.com/news/local/article_fb7b25fc-5d59-57ca-bfa5-c855a60bce3a.html

Thursday may have been the last day of operation for Urgent Care Plus, which is owned by Helena Dr. Mark Ibsen. 

Ibsen said he’ll stay open as long as possible, but he can no longer sustain the business. Saying the clinic has been rendered worthless, Ibsen plans on giving it away to another proprietor, with whom he is in negotiations.

Last month, the Board of Medical Examiners met to discuss potential sanctions against Ibsen for not meeting standards of care in his recordkeeping. The board rejected an order that would have placed Ibsen’s medical license on probation, but two board members said they wanted to suspend his license while the case is resolved. 

“That was a very hostile meeting,” Ibsen said. “They pretty much promised to take my license.”

This case began in July 2013, when an investigation into allegations of over-prescribing painkillers began. The order followed four days of hearings last December spawned by allegations by a former employee of Ibsen. More than 20 witnesses testified. 

Ibsen says the more than two years of hearings followed by the arduous waiting for word from the Board of Medical Examiners regarding allegations of improper recordkeeping have rendered him emotionally and financially exhausted. His current practice cannot be revived, he said.

“That uncertainty has been rotting the core of my business for years,” Ibsen said. 

Because of bounced payroll checks and other issues, the clinic didn’t have enough staff Wednesday to open its doors. 

“This is a ghost town here,” Ibsen said, gazing around one of his patient rooms. 

A new clinic is expected to reopen in the space in January, he said.  

“Essentially, they’re just taking it over,” Ibsen said. “They’re going to try and make it work.” 

When at full staff, Urgent Care Plus had upwards of 18 employees, he said. The clinic ran at 39 Neill Ave. for about six years. Ibsen said he averaged about 11,000 patients annually. 

  As for Ibsen, he’s not sure what his next step will be.

“I’ve been anxious. I’ve been not able to make it through a whole day,” he said. “I have to get this stuff cleared up before I can go anywhere.”

At the request of the Board of Medical Examiners, attorneys for the state and Ibsen will continue to draft their recommendations for sanctions against Ibsen before a meeting in January. 

The board rejected a 50-page order written by a hearing officer for the Montana Department of Labor and Industry that called for Ibsen’s medical license to be placed on probation for 180 days. The order was submitted in June. 

Ibsen said he wishes the board members “would just come down here” to the clinic. 

“Well, it’s too late and we’re done,” Ibsen said.

 

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5% decrease equals a prescription drug overdose death rate

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Rx overdoses declining in Oklahoma

http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/rx-overdoses-declining-oklahoma

If prescribers are mandated to use the state’s PMP… which yielded a 5% reduction in drug overdoses… does this mean:

The prescribers are not requesting/using reports from the PMP

There is a lot of people who are using fake/false/forged ID’s and not showing up in the reports

A large number/all of these deaths… were NOT ACCIDENTAL… but SUICIDES

The number of Oklahoma residents who died last year from prescription drug overdoses dipped slightly, which some state officials believe is an indication that some of its drug-abuse prevention efforts may be succeeding.

Last year, 510 Oklahoma residents died from prescription drug overdoses, compared to the 538 prescription drug overdoses reported in 2013, according to the state health department officials.

The 5% decrease equals a prescription drug overdose death rate of 13.2 deaths per 100,000 people, which is the lowest rate in Oklahoma since 2007.

“There are more prescription drug overdose deaths each year in Oklahoma than overdose deaths from alcohol and all illegal drugs combined,” Gov. Mary Fallin said in a statement published in The Oklahoman.” Moving forward, we need to continue to push treatment and prevention programs wherever we can to help fight this dangerous public health problem.”

Oklahoma’s prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) tracks prescriptions filled for schedule II, III, IV, and V controlled substances. Beginning in November, state law will require that physicians check the PDMP when prescribing controlled substances.

Many states have created PDMPs, but often they are not combined with laws mandating prescribers use them. And some reports have indicated that physicians in many states do not regularly use them.

Oklahoma, like most states, has also seen an increase in the number of residents seeking treatment for substance abuse. According to state officials, 24% of Oklahoma residents seeking publicly funded substance abuse treatment were identified as opiate or heroin abuse cases. A decade ago, 10% of Oklahoma residents sought such substance abuse treatment for opiate or heroin abuse. 

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Nearly 50 arrested in Oxycodone ring dubbed “Operation Checkered Flag”

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Nearly 50 arrested in Oxycodone ring dubbed “Operation Checkered Flag”

STARKE, Fla. — Ten Florida state prison employees are among nearly 50 people facing charges in Bradford County in an illegal prescription drug ring dubbed “Operation Checkered Flag”. Arrests began at 4 a.m. Tuesday and many people have turned themselves in.

The people charged were involved in smuggling drugs, primarily Oxycodone, into Bradford County and state prisons in the area, according to Sheriff Gordon Smith.

Smith says former Department of Corrections employee Dillan Hilliard, arrested earlier this year, was the main dealer involved in bringing drugs to the community.

Hilliard and others allegedly brought in drugs from suppliers in Duval and Polk counties and sold them in Bradford County, including some to prison inmates. Hilliard allegedly had a runner who moved the drugs around the county.
Dylan Hillard

Dylan Hillard (Photo: Bradford County Sheriff’s Office)

“These are people that I know, I know their families… They are part of our community,” Smith said. “A lot of these people were friends. They grew up together all their lives.”

Oxycodone, methamphetamines and cell phones were allegedly smuggled into the prison by DOC employees, according to Bradford County Drug Task Force Sgt. Chris Bennett. Bennett says all of the Corrections employees involved in the ring have either resigned or been fired.

The investigation started with a tip in January 2015, but police had no idea how big this investigation would grow at the time. Forty-nine warrants were being served on Tuesday tied to the case. Besides the prison employees, several drug users in the community and a runner are facing charges. Multiple inmates are involved in the investigation but have not been charged yet, police say.

“This thing is not about the arrests, it’s about saving lives to me,” said Smith.

Smith says their next target will be doctors who are prescribing medications like Oxycodone when they should not be.

“Anybody that is over-prescribing or abusing our citizens is going to be investigated.”

The Department of Corrections issued the following statement about the arrests:

“All Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) staff arrested today have had their employment terminated. In the face of today’s arrests, it is important for the people of Florida to remember that the Department of Corrections employs more than 23,000 honest and hardworking people across our state. To ferret out the small minority of those who choose to engage in criminal activity, I have communicated a zero tolerance policy for misconduct, and instructed our Office of Inspector General (OIG) to take aggressive and direct action against those who engage in illegal activity. The Department’s OIG has worked collaboratively with the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office throughout this investigation and will continue to review the circumstances surrounding these incidents in two administrative investigations. Today’s actions send a clear message to both our officers and the people of Florida that any FDC employee engaging in criminal conduct will be identified and punished to the fullest extent of both Florida law and Department policy.”

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Refusing a prescription and defaming the prescriber

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Refusing a prescription and defaming the prescriber

http://www.pharmacist.com/refusing-prescription-and-defaming-prescriber

The better response may be to defer to company policy and simply say, “We can’t honor this prescription based on company policy.”  Does this suggest that the BOP’s -individually and collectively – are turning a “blind eye” to corporate policies that may be over-ruling the individual Pharmacist’s professional discretion , as provided under the practice act, and to fill/not fill a Rx. Does this suggest that the stacking of BOP’s with non-practicing corporate Pharmacists is causing the BOP’s to not focus on their primary charge to protect the public’s health and safety and allow corporate policies to the “prevailing decision maker”.

There are always trends in litigation against pharmacists. Most of these litigation trends reflect contemporary challenges in pharmacy practice, such as patient education or standards for sterile compounding. The most recent trend stems from the legal requirement that pharmacists refuse opioid medications when questions arise about the legitimacy of a prescription. 


Three legal cases reported in early October describe the alleged circumstances leading to defamation lawsuits filed by prescribers against a pharmacy. These three unrelated lawsuits from Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all alleged that pharmacists who refused prescriptions also made defamatory statements to patients about the prescriber. 


In each of the lawsuits, the pharmacy argued that the case should be dismissed based on a “qualified privilege” of the pharmacist to discuss drug therapy with a patient. In each lawsuit, the court refused to dismiss the case. This does not mean the pharmacies will ultimately lose. It does mean that criticizing a prescriber when refusing an opioid prescription may expose a pharmacist and/or pharmacy to liability for defamation.


Background


In the Virginia case, pharmacists who refused a physician’s opioid prescriptions allegedly made critical statements about the physician, such as “He is bad news,” “He writes too much pain pills and it’s against the law,” and “Your doctor won’t be in business much longer.”


In the Indiana case, the pharmacists refusing a physician’s opioid prescriptions allegedly said that the prescriber “operates a pill mill,” “is a murderer,” and “has been or soon will be arrested.”


In the Pennsylvania case, the pharmacists are alleged to have said that the prescriber “is an irresponsible doctor who just writes scripts and probably does very little treating,” “is being investigated by the DEA [U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration],” and that “nobody in the area fills his prescriptions.”


Rationale


In all three cases, the defendant pharmacies filed a motion to dismiss the cases based on the “pharmacist–patient qualified privilege.” A qualified privilege recognizes that pharmacists have a primary duty to patients and that this duty requires communicating essential information about drug therapy to patients. At times, essential information may reflect negatively on the prescriber. A qualified privilege negates the element of malice that is essential to a defamation lawsuit. To qualify for the privilege, statements made must be (1) in good faith, (2) intended to uphold a legitimate interest, (3) limited in scope and purpose, (4) made on a proper occasion, and (5) made in a proper manner to appropriate parties.


In all three cases, the courts ruled that the facts had not been sufficiently developed to determine whether dismissal was appropriate on the basis of the qualified privilege. All three cases will continue to be litigated.


Discussion


The refusal of an opioid prescription is, in itself, a significant statement about the prescriber and the concerns a pharmacist has about the prescription. Patients will often want to know why a prescription is refused, although they likely can infer the reason from the circumstances.


As the cases reviewed here suggest, it is potentially defamatory for pharmacists to make critical statements about prescribers when patients ask why an opioid prescription has been refused. Any temptation to criticize the prescriber should be resisted under these circumstances. The better response may be to defer to company policy and simply say, “We can’t honor this prescription based on company policy.” This incomplete explanation could be frustrating for both the patient and the pharmacist, but it is necessary given the possibility that patients will misconstrue even the most benign statements made about the prescriber. 



Based on: Mimms v CVS Pharmacy, Inc., 2015 U.S.Dist LEXIS (S.D.Ind. October 1, 2015), Goulmaine v CVS Pharmacy, Inc., 2015 U.S.Dist LEXIS 138359 (E.D.Vir. October 9, 2015), Yarus v Walgreen Co., 2015 U.S.Dist LEXIS 140562 (E.D.Pa. October 9, 2015).

David B. Brushwood, BSPharm, JD, column coordinator, and Senior Lecturer, School of Pharmacy, University of Wyoming, Laramie

 

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pharmacists are more focused on filling a prescriptions ?

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Feds step up drug enforcement of pharmacies

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/nov/25/policing-pharmacies-prescription-drugs/

On July 13, 2012, a pharmacy technician ordered 1,000 hydrocodone pills through the San Diego pharmacy he worked for.

But it was not a sanctioned order. The highly addictive drugs were either meant for his own consumption, or to restock the pharmacy’s supply of pills he had already stolen, concluded the state Board of Pharmacy, which ultimately revoked his license after he was convicted of prescription forgery and burglary.

The incident helped spark a massive investigation into Medical Center Pharmacy, a collection of a dozen family-owned pharmacies that operate throughout San Diego County. What the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration found was a system that lacked controls on the distribution of controlled substances, shoddy record-keeping and lax procedures on dispensing psuedophedrines, which can be used to make methamphetamine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced this month.

The investigation also found a total of 21,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills that were unaccounted for from four San Diego pharmacies over a two-year span. In some instances, the drugs are believed to have been delivered to a home used by pill seekers, authorities said.

The effort to combat the illegal flow of pharmaceuticals from legitimate businesses is intensifying as prescription drug abuse remains a top public health concern.

The DEA, which enforces pharmacy compliance with federal drug laws, has increased the amount of surprise inspections on businesses in recent years. And the state board that licenses pharmacists and similar workers is considering making it mandatory for pharmacies to inventory their drug supplies once every quarter to better stem the illicit flow.

Pharmacies are currently required to report when drugs go missing. Last year in California, 1 million dosages of pills were reported lost, said Virginia Herold, executive officer of the state board. The year before it was about 1.5 million.

“The problem is controlled substances are so valuable on the street compared to their value in the pharmacy,” Herold said. Some pills go for $30 each or more, she added.

Employees who divert pills are either addicted to the drugs themselves, or just selling them for the money, said DEA Supervisory Special Agent Thomas Lenox.

Besides pill diversion, other major problems that authorities look for is poor record keeping and pharmacists who are more focused on filling a prescription rather than doing their due diligence to make sure the prescription is legitimate and not stolen, forged or counterfeit.

“The one thing is, it’s all paper,” Lenox said of the stringent record keeping required of pharmacies. “You either have the documentation or not. If you don’t have them, you’re in violation.”

Investigators say the problems are seen just as much at large, chain pharmacies as at smaller mom-and-pop pharmacies. The only difference is volume: Missing pills are also sometimes spotted faster at the larger chains due to more stringent corporate policies in place, Herold said.

Earlier this year, CVS Pharmacies and the U.S. Attorney’s Office entered into a $22 million settlement after an investigation showed some pharmacies in Florida were knowingly filling illegitimate prescriptions for painkillers.

Authorities can go after offending pharmacies in various ways, from sending a letter of admonition to taking away the DEA registration that allows them to sell controlled substances to civil enforcement to criminal charges. The state board can also go after licenses of individual workers. Licensed workers do undergo background checks, Herold said.

In the Medical Center Pharmacy investigation, authorities went the civil enforcement route, resulting in a $750,000 settlement last week. The corporation, owned by Joseph and John Grasela, operates several storefronts under names such as Galloway Medical Center Pharmacy, Community Medical Center Pharmacy and Medical Center Pharmacy.

Besides the missing pills, authorities said the pharmacies also violated the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, which requires pharmacies to keep a logbook of sales of certain over-the-counter medications that can be used to make meth. The records must include the buyer and the product purchased, and are intended to prevent individuals from buying large quantities of the same drug.

The pharmacies have had problems with the board before, Herold said. As part of the settlement, the owners have agreed to implement new inventory control measures, authorities said.

This case is just the most recent example of similar pharmacy misconduct in the county.

Last year, a Hillcrest pharmacist lost her Sixth Avenue Pharmacy over allegations of failing to account for 16,000 missing oxycodone pills, dispensing drugs with invalid or nonexistent prescriptions, exchanging drugs for services or advancing pills to customers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In 2008, federal agents raided three San Diego pharmacies on allegations that several employees were diverting painkillers.

The DEA works closely with the pharmacy board to educate pharmacies on drug trends, how to spot theft, and security measures such as surveillance cameras, keeping addictive drugs under lock and key and keeping stocks of such painkillers low.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1391

 

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Iowa’s alcohol addiction problem is TWENTY FIVE TIMES worse than their Heroin problem..

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

w8RzbW7

Pain pill addicts fueling Iowa’s heroin epidemic

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2015/11/28/pain-pill-addicts-fueling-iowas-heroin-epidemic/75303620/

Iowa claims to have a Heroin epidemic .. yet… abt 50% of those dealing with substance abuse treatment were dealing with a ALCOHOLIC addiction.

 

 

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Ken McKim on explaining DEPRESSION

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

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If you want a biased opinion.. you just have to follow the money trail

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Accepting Pain More Important than Reducing Pain Intensity Because Opioids Are Harmful, Docs Write in NEJM Commentary

http://nationalpainreport.com/accepting-pain-more-important-than-reducing-pain-intensity-because-opioids-are-harmful-docs-write-in-nejm-commentary-8828494.html

Apparently the best way to get something published in a normally respected medical journal is to based the article on the premise as if the article was written by the DEA. I especially like this very unscientific statement and the successful outcome prefaced with a MAY REDUCE ...“willingness to accept pain and engagement in life activities despite pain, may reduce suffering and disability without necessarily reducing pain intensity.”   Unfortunately, many who will read this will believe this “hogwash”

People suffering in chronic pain need to learn to accept it because “achieving a balance between the benefits and potential harms of opioids has become a matter of national importance,” wrote two influential doctors who advocate for changing opioid prescribing practices in a commentary for the esteemed New England Journal of Medicine.

Jane Ballantyne, M.D., and Mark Sullivan, M.D., authors of the commentary, wrote,

“Is a reduction in pain intensity the right goal for the treatment of chronic pain? We have watched as opioids have been used with increasing frequency and in escalating doses in an attempt to drive down pain scores — all the while increasing rates of toxic drug effects, exposing vulnerable populations to risk, and failing to relieve the burden of chronic pain at the population level. For many patients, especially those who have become dependent on opioids, maintaining low pain scores requires continuous or escalating doses of opioids at the expense of worsening function and quality of life. And for many other people, especially adolescents and young adults, increased access to opioids has led to abuse, addiction, and death.”

Dr. Ballantyne is President of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP), an organization that advocates for state and federal policies that promote cautious prescribing habits, proper enforcement of laws that prohibit marketing of drugs for conditions where risks of use outweigh benefits.

Dr. Sullivan is the Executive Director of Collaborative Opioid Prescribing Education (COPE), an organization that educates healthcare providers on how to safely treat and manage the care of people with chronic pain in order to improve patients’ lives and end the prescription opioid epidemic.

The authors framed the topic of opioids this way:

“For three decades, there has been hope that more liberal use of opioids would help reduce the number of Americans with unrelieved chronic pain. Instead, it produced what has been termed an epidemic of prescription-opioid abuse, overdoses, and deaths — and no demonstrable reduction in the burden of chronic pain.”

The reference cited for the above statement, The prescription opioid and heroin crisis: a public health approach to an epidemic of addiction. Annu Rev Public Health 2015;36:559-574, was authored by Ballantyne’s colleague, PROP Executive Director, Andrew Kolodny.

Reduce pain intensity, or suck it up?

“We propose that pain intensity is not the best measure of the success of chronic-pain treatment. When pain is chronic, its intensity isn’t a simple measure of something that can be easily fixed. Suffering may be related as much to the meaning of pain as to its intensity,” they wrote.

“Patients who report the greatest intensity of chronic pain are often overwhelmed, are burdened by coexisting substance use or other mental health conditions,” they added.

Instead of opioids, the doctors say that an interdisciplinary and multimodal treatment coupled with coping and acceptance strategies are critical.  In addition, they conclude that a “willingness to accept pain and engagement in life activities despite pain, may reduce suffering and disability without necessarily reducing pain intensity.”

Comments on the New England Journal of Medicine’s website related to the article included:

“Intensity of pain is relevant mostly when pain limits the actions and abilities of the patient to live a life with any minute level of fulfillment. Humane treatment should be a goal in any medical plan, one dealing with pain should start there” – Kimberly Miller

“Chronic pain is an injury to central nervous system functions that profoundly impacts a cascade of measurable biological functions and associated adaptive behaviors which are rarely accounted for by the addiction or the interventional pain models and often discounted when reported, leading to increased disability. It does a disservice to patients to infer that chronic pain serves to maintain emotion and reward seeking behaviors or that the degree of experienced sensation is somehow illegitimate.” – Terri Lewis, Ph.D. (who is also a contributor to National Pain Report).

“Many patients are not much interested in learning behavioral strategies which may help them function better with chronic pain, nor changing their expectation of complete relief. They wish a simple pill to swallow or a procedure to be performed on them, and many do not want to stop doing things making their pain worse. While basic research continues, with a goal to finding improved treatments for chronic pain, we have a difficult task before us changing the population’s attitudes towards what is possible and practical for our patients in pain.” – Leo Martin, MD

“Thank you for your interesting article pointing out that the suffering associated with chronic pain is related to its meaning and not only to pain intensity and therefore treating it only pharmacologically with opioids does not work. … Without a philosophical/spiritual context no strategy will significantly ease the burden of chronic pain, no matter how biopsychosocial it is.” – Alberto Montoya, MD

 

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The “VOICE” of the chronic pain community is not being heard ?

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

lietotruth

What the Internet Says About “Opioids” Says a Lot!

http://nationalpainreport.com/what-the-internet-says-about-opioids-says-a-lot-8828371.html#comment-174174

 

It’s safe to say that Google’s advanced search algorithms return search results that reflect the dominant content the globe is seeking on any given topic.  So, what do Google search results tell us about what the world thinks when it comes to opioids?

National Pain Report went to Google and asked that very question.  And, here is what Google tells us.

When you type in “opioids” into Google search, the search engine goliath returns 5,730,000 pages of content.  That’s a lot to cull through, so, thanks to Google’s algorithms, the browser makes calculations on which of those 5+ million pages are most relevant to you, the searcher.  Fewer than 15% of people ever even click the “Next” button to see results past the second page, so that’s where we focused our attention.

When we searched “opioids”, there were 24 results (non-advertisements) on the first two pages of Google.  We reviewed each of the results to determine if the content was:

  • “About Pain” (supported or reflected the proper use of opioids for the treatment of pain)
  • “About Abuse” (supported or reflected the misuse of opioids, addiction or death)
  • “About Both” (supported or reflected both proper and improper use of opioids)
  • “About Law” (supported or reflected content about arrests related to opioids)

Google search - opioids 150% of content related to “opioids” exclusively reflects abuse, addiction or death.

Only 4% of content related to “opioids” exclusively reflects the proper use of opioids to treat pain.

92% of content related to “opioids” includes abuse, addiction or death.

Only 46% of content related to “opioids” includes the proper use of opioids to treat pain.

That’s pretty telling.  The “Internet Machine” suggests that when the world thinks about opioids, it’s thinking addiction, abuse and death – not proper and legal use of opioids.  But, does this add up to the real numbers, or does it seem to reflect current trends in media, government and society (or big business)?

According to the CDC, about 12 million Americans abused or were dependent on opioids in 2013.  We used trusted Google to see if we could find the number of people who legally and properly use opioids in an effort to look at the size of this group (and we know it is HUGE).  With that number we would then be able to (however loosely) see if Google is exposing searchers to a reflective point of view on opioids.

Guess what?  That number (how many people legally and properly use opioids) is elusive.  And here’s why.

Ask Google a question, and you reliably get the exact answer you’re searching for, right?

Well, this is what Google tells us when we asked the question, “how many people legally use opioids?”Gogle search - opioids 2

Gogle search - opioids 3

Thanks Google.  You made our point.  We don’t blame you.  But, you are making things worse!

There is a major message that is being driven by government and media.  Just look at the first four Google search results above – all are US Government entities.  And, all of them are related to addiction, misuse, or the drug epidemic, something the government seems to believe is the only thing that opioids do.

And, the next two search results?  Big media with punishing headlines.

The Washington Post article titled, “The legal drug epidemic” leads off with this, “When is this country going to wake up — really wake up — to the catastrophe that prescription opioid painkillers have caused since they came into widespread use in the early 1990s?”  Thanks Google for answering the question about legal use of opioids with this.

CNN says that the FDA approval of a new pill to treat pain is… “Genuinely Frightening.”  When a new cholesterol drug gained FDA approval, CNN’s headline was, “FDA approves second in new class of cholesterol lowering drugs.”  When the FDA approved Addyi, CNN’s headline was, “’Female Viagra’ gets FDA approval.”

So, why is a new pill to treat pain “genuinely frightening?”

It’s because the “message” is that opioids are only about addiction and overdose and not about legal and proper use of important medicines.

Thanks Google.  Thanks government.  Thanks media.  You’re working very well together.

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Another EPIDEMIC that you don’t hear about ?

Posted on November 26, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

 Antibiotics resistance blamed for 23,000 deaths annually

http://www.live5news.com/story/30608551/antibiotics-resistance-blamed-for-23000-deaths-annually

ATLANTA, GA (CNN) – According to the CDC, at least 2 million people a year in the U.S. become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, leading to more than 23,000 deaths.

We all know “germs” are bad, but some disease-causing bacteria have the ability to develop resistance to the drugs created to destroy them.

The overuse, or misuse, of prescription antibiotics, and the use of antibiotics in the food we eat, like beef and pork, are some of the causes.

What does it mean when your body doesn’t respond to antibiotics?

“Antibiotic resistance occurs when organisms have been exposed to different types of antibiotics, and once they’ve seen antibiotics they can develop and evolve, as part of their living process, a resistance to some of the antibiotics,”says Emory University Pharmacist Steve Mok.

If you experience this resistance, does it mean the bacteria are resistant to that antibiotic forever?

“As we remove antibiotic pressure – they’ll become not so resistant anymore. So, it’s very important that we use our antibiotics judiciously to make sure we get the right dose, taking it for the right amount of time to attack those organisms, so it can’t come back and hurt you later on,” Mok said.

Are there ways to reduce your risk of catching a resistant strain of bacteria?

“It’s very important for people to remember to wash their hands. the other one is to make sure you don’t share things like towels, razors nail clippers.those sorts of personal products,”Mok said.

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