the.com/overprescription
when the solution to too many pills is somehow always more pills.
means prescribing medication beyond what evidence or need actually supports, often out of habit, pressure, or profit.
from the concept is old, but the word exploded in the 1990s-2000s alongside the opioid crisis, when doctors were sold on aggressive pain treatment by companies who funded the studies proving it worked.
opioid marketingpurdue pharma paid doctors to prescribe more oxycontin
antibiotic wasteup to 30 percent of antibiotic scripts are unnecessary
elderly riskpolypharmacy causes falls, confusion, hospital visits
incentive problemshorter visits push doctors toward pills over talk
for instance
oxycontin epidemic — purdue pharma, 1996 onward, fueled us opioid crisis
antibiotic overuse — driving global antibiotic resistance, who flags it yearly
benzodiazepine scripts — long-term anxiety meds handed out far past guidelines
adhd medication surge — us child stimulant prescriptions tripled since the 1990s