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RWS 1301
Crystal Gonzalez
DOCTORS OVER-PRESCRIBING MEDICATION 2
Abstract
Medication is used as a substance to heal a disease or prevent pain. Doctors are now over-
prescribing medication with full knowledge of what the consequences are, but are still doing it
anyways. Over-prescribing has caused an epidemic that has already been a great problem to this
country become worse. Drug usage has increased over the years because gaining possession of
opioids have now gotten easier thanks to over-prescription. Bacteria is now becoming more
resistant to antibiotics because doctors are giving their patients high dosages of antibiotics for the
simplest sickness such as a sore throat and patients are now developing health problems. People
are not aware that one of the things that can help cure can be one of the things that causes the most
Introduction
Doctors are supposed to be someone you trust, but how are you supposed to trust someone
who isnt putting your health as a main priority? Doctors are now over-prescribing medication
such as opioids and antibiotics with clear knowledge of the long-term effects. Patients are being
prescribed medication without full understanding of what that medication can do. This is a problem
that is not talked about frequently because there are greater problems to be concerned about, but
this is something that everyone should be concerned and informed about to prevent a greater
conflict. The first way it can create a bigger problem is the increase in use of opioids because of
over-prescription. The second way is an increase in resistance rate in bacteria and lastly,
unnecessary health problems that could eventually be prevented. It is clear that medication can
sometimes cause more harm than good if people are not well informed on what these medicines
Over-Prescription of Opioids
year. Most of these drugs are being misused and the patients are
highly addicted drugs that can ease pain, but can also ruin your life
unnecessary drugs are passing them on to relatives or selling them to make a profit. This is making
the ability to gain possession of a drug a lot easier. We have not made any progress when it comes
to drug addictions, in fact, the number of overdosed deaths has quadrupled since 1999 (Thompson,
Surgeons are being taught to give their surgical patients up to 90 opioid tablets upon
discharge (Makary, 2017). It has been proven that 1 single tablet of Ibuprofen is sufficient. The
medical community has advised their members to over-prescribe medication to stop late night
phone calls from patients asking for more. Many doctors usually hold off on opioids for serious
measures like, terminal cancer, burns and surgeries, but are now being distributive to minor things
like headaches etc. One ironic thing is that over-the-counter pills are not paid by the insurance, but
the opioids are completely covered. This situation should be changed so that the over-prescription
Over-Prescription of Antibiotics
Other than over-prescribing opioids, doctors are now over-prescribing antibiotics.
Figure 2 Although this isnt as serious as drugs, antibiotics are still a serious matter and here is
which can be contagious, and while the people infected are taking medication like penicillin the
bacteria is becoming more resistant to the treatment because it is being exposed to often. As seen
on figure 2, about 10% of adults are prescribed correctly for a Strep infection and 40 million
antibiotic prescriptions were unnecessary validating that doctors are not correctly doing their job
Another way on why bacteria is becoming more resistant is because farmers are injecting
animals with antibiotics. Enrofloxacin is an antibiotic that is used to treat respiratory infections in
chickens and turkey, but the problem is that campylobacter (a common cause for food poisoning)
is becoming more immune to the medication that treats because of over exposure (Prior, 2005).
diarrhea because doctors are not properly giving out the medication. A bacteria called C. Difficile
is found in the gut but it can be very dangerous to children and is developed by unnecessary
antibiotics. Roughly 250,000 people are hospitalized and 14,000 children and adults have died
because of this bacteria (Krans, 2014). Aggressive antibiotics have the capability of messing with
your entire gut flora and it can take a long time of taking probiotics and healing for it to go back
to normal because what antibiotics do is attack the bad bacteria as well as the good bacteria in your
stomach. Your liver is another organ that can get damaged by the over exposure of antibiotics. It
can cause liver inflammation and can potentially intoxicate your liver if you take antibiotics
frequently.
DOCTORS OVER-PRESCRIBING MEDICATION 6
In conclusion, doctors are over-prescribing opioids and antibiotics which are leading to an
increase in drug usage and the resistance in bacteria causing health problems. Although doctors
have the greater knowledge when it comes to the human body, they should be more careful and
make the patients health a main priority. Doctors from all over the world should get the proper
training to recognize drug abuse and implement that in their career to help decrease the rates. As
far as antibiotics goes, natural remedies should be tried instead to prevent harm to the human body
References
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DOCTORS OVER-PRESCRIBING MEDICATION 8
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