Doctor, Do No Harm Essay

Health problems are quite typical for older people. About 80% of them suffer from one or more chronic diseases. The implication of this becomes a situation of a very large percentage of drug consumption among elderly. In the US, revenue from the sale of medicines for elderly ambulatory use reaches great number of income. In the US the average person over 65 years old received 10.7 new and renewable prescriptions per year. There is a huge issue in regard to this topic, this issue is about overmedicating elder people. The issue is very important in modern society as we can evidence plenty of cases when elders complain on the medications they were prescribed.
While medication may be necessary and valuable for health and quality of life for the elderly, drug companies in their promotional materials too often underestimate the risk of adverse effects.(Nevins & Imke, 1990)
Just as the thalidomide tragedy that led to greater caution in prescribing to pregnant women and greater scrutiny to determine the potential risk of drugs, it should have happened a major event to bring changes in relation to medicines for the elderly. Deaths among the elderly, who in the early 1980 were taking plenty of harmful medications, led to the withdrawal of these drugs. More importantly, it led to the establishment of clearer guidance from the regulatory authorities of the need to evaluate new drugs not only by young volunteers, but also the elderly, which will have these drugs prescribed.(Denham & George, 1990)
Taking too many drugs appears to be only a part of the problem. Even one drug may have a greater impact on the elderly than it was thought. This is due to a number of physical changes that affect metabolism in the elderly, and that is for sure caused by drugs.

References

Denham, M., & George, C. (1990). Drugs in old age. [Edinburgh]: Published for the British Council by Churchill Livingstone.
Nevins, A., & Imke, S. (1990). Overmedicating the Elderly. The Gerontologist, 30(5), 719-720. doi:10.1093/geront/30.5.719b