Patients are often in the dark about drug recalls

Where drug recalls are concerned, a ‘click in time’ can save your life

This week tons of frozen vegetables were recalled from Walmart and other large retailers. Before that it was flour, granola bars and sunflower seeds.

And I’m guessing you heard about these recalls — on the TV news, the Internet, probably even from your next-door neighbor.

But if a drug you’re taking every day were recalled, would you even know about it?

Recalled meds can make you a lot more than sick. They can kill you. And many people don’t hear about them in time to take action, if they hear about them at all.

The good news is that it’s fairly simple to find out if any drugs you’re taking have been recalled — and taking a minute to check could save your life or the life of someone you love.

Mix-ups that are all too easy to miss

Some years are worse than others for drug recalls.

Why, 2010 was called “Recall-o-Rama” by one trade pub!

But if you don’t subscribe to industry journals, what are the chances you’ll even know about a recall?

Researchers looked at eight years of data from the FDA’s two main reporting systems for recalls, finding a slipshod method of broadcasting this vital information. And that puts anyone taking Rx drugs in grave danger.

And here is what’s really scary:

In that time period, almost two dozen Class 1 recalls — the most urgent kind — fell through the cracks and didn’t get “communicated” at all.
A third of those Class 1 recalls during those eight years involved over 100,000 “drug units” that had been distributed all over the country.
Recalled drugs have included blood thinners, cancer drugs and birth-control pills that turned out to just be placebos.

The FDA’s response to that was to say it uses “many different methods of communicating” recalls, including texting and Twitter.

Right! Let’s all start tweeting with the FDA to get this life-and-death information! Especially when many seniors aren’t on Twitter at all!

But, of course, the FDA can only do so much. And that’s because it doesn’t really have the ability to do anything. It seems that all this time we’ve been relying on Big Pharma to honor the “honor system.”

An expert in the field of public health, Dr. Carl Furberg from Wake Forest University, says that the drug companies are “ultimately responsible because the problem is with them.” The FDA, he adds, has no “legal authority to force” a recall.

And that’s even true about potentially lethal mistakes.

So, how can you protect yourself?

The safest way, of course, is to take as few drugs as possible.

But most of us find ourselves taking some pharmaceuticals at some point. So to be as safe as possible, always check the latest recall information before you start a new prescription or even a refill. Go to this FDA page and enter the name of your drug in the “keyword” box.

Another way to watch out for yourself if you are on a prescription med, or even taking an OTC one, is to take a moment to look at it after you open the bottle. You may be familiar with the drug’s color and shape, so if something looks different about your pills, don’t take any chances.

All drugs can be identified by their unique imprint, as well as their size, shape and color. And be sure to double-check the dosage, which is printed on the pills as well.

You can do that at an online pill identifier I found that makes it easy to check on the identity of any drug.

It may seem like a pain, but we can’t count on anyone else to think about our safety where drugs are concerned. Those 1-minute clicks just might save your life.

Sources:
“Will 2014 be the biggest year for drug recalls?” Lori Clapper, Pharmaceutical Online, pharmaceuticalonline.com

“American Health recalls epilepsy drug and ibuprofen over possible table switch” Eric Palmer, FiercePharma, fiercepharmamanufacturing.com