Pills are good, pills are bad - E.R.[tv]steps in

It was interesting to see major networks using their prime time shows to debate the debacle about pharmaceuticals.

The show ended with an older man saying something like: that little red pill gave me back my ability to do all these things I could not do without it. [not an exact quote].

...but the main part of the show was about 'undisclosed' information about side effects from a new pill. A teenaged girl had renal failure due to this pill, and there were others with devastating side effects too. The "T.V. docs"{Noah Wiley] didn't get much of a warning about these deadly side effects, and he was angry about that.

This would seem to be a show that covered the debate about the benefits of pills, the need for the 'pill money' to do research and actual therapy in hospitals, and the 'need' to shut up about side effects because of "all the good the profits can do" - E.R.s hospital administrator's duty seemed to be to protect the drugs, willing to put some patients at risk to keep the money flowing.

But this "debate" was total propaganda!! It completely left out the alternatives to pills, as if nothing without a patent could possibly have been of help to this teenaged girl's medical condition. No flushes, no herbs, nothing without a patent was even considered. Patents allow for greater profits than natural substances, and that is the crux of the pharmaceuticals VS natural cures scandal.

Kidney function was her main problem I think, she had gotten one of her dad's kidneys, which was destroyed by this new pill that he had spent all his money on. He killed himself so she could have his other kidney, a good bit of drama that was tottally irresponsible and unrealistic - suicides like that are not considered for transplant in order to keep parents from doing that sort of thing. Maybe it happens, but its not supposed to.

So we see major media using prime time to remove natural cures from the debate completely. It only came down to asking if newer pills side effects should be more widely discussed, as the treating doctors had not recieved much advice about it.
The exact names of the pills? I don't remember, it was likely mde up, but if anyone caught it and knows, please post it.

Arrrggg, its kinda frustrating to see propaganda like this supporting the deadly pharmaceutical industry. At least Noah Wiley got to say some good lines like ~"the pharmaceutical industry is the most heavily lobbied in Washington"~, and that the FDA gives approval without much evidence of safety;
The ER admin actor supported the idea that the real assessments for new pill saftey comes from using patients as guinea pigs.

There are alternatives... non-patented medicines are often effective but unused.

Karlin

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