[Info] The Missing Voice of Patients in Drug-Safety Reporting

[Bernard]

A patient wants to know about symptoms she may have from a prescription drug she is taking. Consulting the label’s “Adverse Reactions” section, she finds a wealth of data. Little does she realize that this information, largely collected during clinical trials, is based almost entirely on clinicians’ impressions of patients’ symptoms — not on patients’ own firsthand reports of their experiences with the drug.

The current drug-labeling practice for adverse events is based on the implicit assumption that an accurate portrait of patients’ subjective experiences can be provided by clinicians’ documentation alone. Yet a substantial body of evidence contradicts this assumption, showing that clinicians systematically downgrade the severity of patients’ symptoms, that patients’ self-reports frequently capture side effects that clinicians miss, and that clinicians’ failure to note these symptoms results in the occurrence of preventable adverse events.1,2
...

http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=3140

All the more need for folks to use MedWatch

[RobinN]

When Rebecca was on meds, I found Ask a Patient to be helpful.

[Nakamova]

Boy does this strike a chord! How many times have we heard someone say "my doctor says _____ isn't a side of effect of DrugX", and yet you find that everyone on the net has been complaining about _____. Obviously the drug companies have a stake in minimizing reports of side effects before drugs are approved, and tehn once the drugs are unleashed on the public there are few official ways to record and evaluate the resulting "real world" symptoms and side effects.

[Birdbomb]

It's even worse for medical implants because they monitor themselves as per the standard set down by the FDA! It's sickening and deceptive and HARMFUL not to disclose the true facts about medication or medical implants.

[Meetz1064]

nothing really surprises me anymore about the medical industry. This just makes it sadder, to me.

[Bernard]

When Rebecca was on meds, I found Ask a Patient to be helpful.

It's helpful for folks looking for validation/information, but it doesn't help correct the problem when one is experiencing an unacknowledged side effect. I'd encourage folks to use the MedWatch system and report side effects even when your doctor tells you it isn't caused by whatever medication you are taking.

[Cint]

I agree, Bernard.
And here is another website I find useful and informative:

http://www.pharmalot.com