In an AP story that ran yesterday on Fox News, it was reported that “more than 1.5 million Americans are injured every year by drug errors in hospitals, nursing homes and doctor’s offices, a count that doesn’t even estimate patients’ own medication mix-ups, says a report from the Institute of Medicine that calls for major steps to increase patient safety.” Aside from the scary implications of this report, it is certainly another great reason to proactively take care of yourself, rather than relying on a pill to do this for you. After all, there is a decent chance you might just get the wrong pill. 

My business partner, Steve Cesari, and I attended a writing conference with Mark Victor Hansen last weekend in
Orlando and one of our fellow participants had lost her sight permanently as a result of accidentally being given the wrong medication following a automobile accident. Now, I’d hate to live in a world without the great physicians we have these days or without the breakthrough medications, but as a society we seem to overdo it a bit. During sixty minutes of prime time TV earlier in the week, I counted 7 pharmaceutical advertisements. Every condition from restless legs to ADD to herpes to depression and few more were represented with a pill solution of some sort. Isn’t this out of hand?

What do you think?

Coach