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Good Tuesday morning! Here's your weekly
Dose of Dover
The only reliable source for un-common sense advice,
insights and cover-your-backside strategies you simply won't find anywhere else.
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Tuesday, March 18, 2003:
I've got some great news that could save a life...maybe even yours! From the world of the Food & Drug Administration last week came a major breakthrough in what everyone believes to be an extremely controllable area of mistakes...the mis-medication of patients: Every medication given in the hospital soon will carry a label with a supermarket-style bar code that can be matched to patients and help ensure they get the right dose of the right drug at the right time.
An estimated 7,000 hospitalized patients die every year because of drug errors..where the wrong drug or an incorrect dosage has been dispensed. The bar code system will allow nurses and others to check electronically that the drug and dose are correct...read all about it here.
For the last 20 years, Lisa struggled with bipolar disorder and had finally been stabilized on a number of medications, including the mood-stabilizing anticonvulsant Lamictal. Two weeks after a recent routine office visit, she called her doctor complaining of irritability and insomnia, both early warning signs of a relapse. She saw her doctor the next day and was obviously testy and agitated.
She pulled all of her medications out of her backpack, slammed them on her doctor's desk, and dismissed the treatment as useless. Unfortunately her doctor had to agree when he evaluated her medications. Her bottle of Lamisil wasn't helping her with her mental challenges; she was supposed to have received Lamictal...and the only thing the two drugs have in common is that they're both round, white pills, but that's about it.
By accident, the pharmacist had given this woman Lamisil, an antifungal drug, instead of Lamictal for her bipolar disorder. In essence, she lost the therapeutic effect of Lamictal for two weeks and was beginning to get sick because of confusion about the name of a drug.
This sort of mistake is anything but rare. Mix-ups over drugs with similar spellings and similar sounds accounted for 15 percent of all errors reported over the last several years. Common examples include: Cerebyx (an anticonvulsant) and Celebrex (my favorite anti-inflammatory); Zyrtec (an antihistamine) and Zantac (an ulcer drug); Sarafem (an antidepressant) and Serophene (a fertility drug). Can you imagine the fallout from a Sarafem-but-you-got-Serophene screw-up? Not only are you depressed, you're pregnant with sextuplets! [D'oh!]
Because some prescriptions are phoned in and others are submitted in writing, often in a physician's notoriously bad handwriting, both spellings and sounds matter tremendously. There are 600 sound-alike or look-alike drug pairs that have been identified as possible sources of error since 1992...a substantial number considering that there are about 15,000 registered drug names in the United States.
Ben's Bottom Line? If you can't read your doctor's handwriting, what makes you think the pharmacist can? At the risk of insulting your doctor, take the offensive. I didn't say be offensive, but take the offensive and when the Doc hands you a prescription, look at it! Read it! And if you can't understand it, then write on the back of it the correct name of the drug in printed, block letters. Don't be afraid to ask questions!
Write down the names of the medications your doctor's prescribing for you on a separate piece of paper before he or she leaves the examination room! Write down:
1. The name of the medication
2. The dosage and,
3. The frequency of dosing.
And then when you get your prescription filled, don't leave the pharmacy unless and until you've compared your notes to what's been dispensed to you. If the two don't match up, ask the pharmacist-not the "technician", but the pharmacist to explain why there's a difference between the two. Unless it's a name brand versus generic drug sorta situation, the life you're about to save might be your own. Think! Don't blindly trust...think!!! before you start blindly popping pills. People make mistakes but as the old joke goes, "...doctors bury theirs." Read the entire story here.
It appears the FDA may be positioning itself to press criminal charges against storefront pharmacies, insurers or others who "aid" Americans in purchasing lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada: Before you buy your prescription drugs outside of U.S. borders in an effort to stretch your drug dollars, you might wanna read more about it.
Continental Airlines customers who buy tickets by March 31 for anywhere outside the United States except Canada may change their destination or travel dates without a penalty through May 31. Changes must be made at least three days before the original departure date, and new travel must be completed by Dec. 31. But customers will be responsible for any fare difference -- when changing destinations, for example. Delta Air Lines also waived its change fee, under the same terms as Continental, for its trans-Atlantic flights. US Airways and American Airlines have also announced that in the event of a military action or a Code Red alert by the Homeland Security Department, customers would be able to change tickets without incurring a fee.
US Airways customers can apply the value of unused tickets toward future travel within 90 days; change their travel dates or the destination city within the same time frame; or change a ticket if an itinerary has not been completed.
At American, customers can change tickets up to 30 days from the start of a conflict or the alert-but not after their original travel date-for another trip anytime through 2003. Same goes over at United: If a war begins, customers who bought tickets before the start of military action would be allowed to reschedule their trips through Sept. 1 for domestic itineraries and Dec. 31 for international travel without incurring a fee.
Wanna know what really gives me the jitters? Paying too much for a hotel room, condo or rental car: God/Goddess/Allah/Buddha [pick one or pick none] bless my pals at www.hotels.com
Make sure you're "up" on the very latest disaster news: Here's a free service from the Emergency E-Mail and Wireless Network that you might wanna sign up for. If you've got a alpha-numeric pager, a cell phone that handles text messaging or plain old e-mail, you can sign up for county-specific news flashes on stuff like natural or man-made disasters. Check 'em out and click away...
And if you'd like to see the latest news from the government terrorism spin-doctors...you might wanna bookmark the semi-new Ready.gov site while you're at it.
One of the most vocal anti-IRS voices in the nation is in deep doo-doo again and if you're naive enough to swallow his shtick, you can expect a visit from the taxman in the months ahead! Las Vegas-based tax protestor Irwin Schiff has been daring the government to come after him for years...so they've taken up the challenge and he's got a whole new set of problems at the ripe old age of 75.
Don't set yourself up for fraud whenever you write a check to the government to pay your taxes: Do not make your checks out to IRS. Why? Because a few years ago some creative mail thieves started intercepting envelopes addressed to the IRS, changing the "I" in IRS to an "M"...and then filled in the rest of the name and cashed the checks. So instead of the IRS getting your money, some clown cashing checks to Mrs. Fill-in-the-blank is not only stealing your cash, but causing you a whole new set of problems since you didn't pay the IRS on time. Silly....but true.
No refund because you haven't filed your tax returns in [ahem] awhile? You're not alone...there are an estimated 14 million non-filers flying under the IRS radar screens. For now, anyway. It really will be easier if you come out before they find you. Non-filers get into that predicament through a chain of events that are all too familiar: Loss of job, loss of spouse or significant other due to divorce or death, loss of health. What's your story? It doesn't really matter, but who you hire to cover your butt does. Read about your IRS representation alternatives here...
Do you own/use a cell phone? You could be setting yourself up for hundreds or even thousands of dollars of liability and not even know it! I didn't even realize how at risk we are until I read a story last week on this topic. Ben's "Can-You-Hear-Me-Now?" Bottom Line: If you can't find your cell phone...if you think you've lost it or it's been stolen, you'd better not risk waiting too long to contact your cell phone service provider. Otherwise, you could end up being responsible for the entire bill! Cell phones not like credit cards: The government legislated long ago that if your credit card's lost or stolen, your maximum liability is $50 per card. But that rule doesn't apply to cell phones! Read even more on the Consumer Action.org website.
You're not gonna believe how the simple and innocent act of kissing a child can double their chances of developing cavities! Get out the floss and read all about it right here.
Employers are offering "wellness" assessments (don't you just love that spin-doctoring?) that ask questions ranging from your vegetable to alcohol consumption to how much you smoke or exercise. They're tracking lab tests and prescriptions to predict which workers may fall ill. Some employers are offering bonuses for keeping cholesterol in check. A few are penalizing smokers...and others are slapping those who don't wear seat belts. Personal responsibility is the latest buzz.
But privacy must be your #1 concern: While most employers say these programs are voluntary and that they don't review individual data...I'd be extremely skeptical, especially since new federal privacy laws won't cover many programs. You should be nervous about giving information about your health status to your employer...and you'd better ask questions before you agree to answer theirs:
1. How will the data be used?
2. Who will share it?
3. How will I be helped by it, and how might I be harmed? (Don't expect them to answer that last one, folks.)
You'd better be ready for the employer to hold you over an insurance benefits barrel if you don't ask "how high" when they tell you to "jump:" Here's two examples of how the new health benefits reality is playing out at one employer...
1. E.A. Miller, a beef-packing plant in Hyrum, Utah, requires women insured by the company to attend two prenatal classes and visit their doctors during the first trimester of pregnancy. If they don't, birth costs are not covered.
2. Insured employees injured in auto accidents while not wearing seat belts will not have their injuries paid for by the company health plan.
Federal privacy laws restrict the type of information that can be shared with employers, and other laws also prevent them from discriminating against those who are ill. Trust is key to the programs, but what happens when an employer violates your trust? Even if you figure out that you've been knifed in the back with your own health questionnaire answers, you could be tied up in the courts for years trying to prove your case - assuming you can find an attorney to take your case.
Practically every major employer has some sort of Employee Assistance Program staffed by company paid counselors at the ready to help you with challenges ranging from domestic violence to drug or alcohol abuse to depression: But who has access to those records? Don't kid yourself. You're delusional if you think there's such a thing as confidentiality.
Filing health insurance claims can haunt you down the road, so keep this in mind before you file a claim for Valtrex to control your raging case of genital herpes. Just think what your employer, your boss or prospective boss would think if they knew you had contracted a Sexually Transmitted Disease. Bottom line: If they won't treat you anonymously, go outside the system to seek help.
Speaking of gynecological procedures, do you know when Mother's Day is this year? I do. Mark Sunday, May 11, 2003 on your calendar...but this year, instead of getting her some crappy flowers or cheesy perfume, why not send her some kick-ass flowers that are not only incredibly-affordable, but will last three-times longer and will spin Mom's head faster than that kid with the bad complexion in The Exorcist. Of course I'm talking about beautiful flowers, FedExed direct to Mom by your pals at www.tropicalcolors.com
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