(In response to "Drug Cocktail, No Hangover")
Genelex's GeneMedRx drug-interaction testing service is a terrific way to prevent thousands of perhaps preventable deaths a year. By simply giving a sample of blood, one’s genetic makeup is determined, which then allows for a patient's ability to metabolize certain types of drugs to be determined. This will then prevent them death due to ill drug interactions. Of course, such testing as that of the Genelex’s costs money; $800 for a bundle of tests, in fact. Right now, individuals have to dish out the money from their own pockets (we all know that healthcare doesn’t come cheap, especially for those who really can’t afford it, such as the elderly living off their monthly social security or those on welfare…but that’s a different story and we’ll save it for another time), which shouldn’t be the case. Prescribing these drugs that bring harm to a patient shouldn’t be done in the first place. Doctors should screen their patients to begin with, meaning the test fee should be paid by the doctors or refunded back to the their patients. After all, doctors are healthcare providers (to use the term loosely) and they should maximally care for their patients and be aware of the possible and individualized side effects their patients may experience. But, it’s still not necessarily the doctors’ fault for fringing harm to a patient’s health. Pharmaceutical companies are so advent about pushing their medicines that some go to the extent of giving free samples (a rather impressive advertising technique) to promote the drugs to physicians who then prescribe these to their patients to pick up at the pharmacy. The pharmaceutical companies should not market such drugs that have poor and harmful side effects. On top of that, however, drugs should be put through years and years of trials before the Food and Drug Administration approves them. Why? Because, according to Genelex, “21.3% of the 548 most recently FDA approved medications were subsequently withdrawn from the market or given a black box warning” (visit Genelex’s Adverse Drug Reactions Facts for more information). So, as much as I promote DNA testing, much more should be done to prevent adverse reactions from even occurring in the first place.