James L. Marcum - Medicines That Kill: The Truth about the Hidden Epidemic

My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

HOSEA 4:6, NIV

I first met Dana in the intensive care unit after she had undergone surgery to repair a damaged heart valve. The surgery was complicated by pulmonary hypertension, a condition in which the pressure in the pulmonary vessels (those in the lungs) is much higher than normal. This contributed to her abnormal heart rhythm and right-sided heart failure. Week after week this forty-five-year-old in the prime of life became weaker and weaker, and the specialists, the medications, the ventilator, the feeding tube, the dialysis, and everything else modern medicine had to offer could not fix the problems.

Before her illness, Dana had not smoked, drunk, or used illicit drugs. She had been a member of the track team in high school. In fact, years before, an episode of palpitations had resulted in a thorough medical evaluation. This included blood work, a complete history and physical, an electrocardiogram, a twenty-four-hour monitor, and an echocardiogram. Everything was normal. Danas palpitations turned out to be from drinking too much caffeine and vanished when Dana decreased her caffeine intake and drank more water.

Dana was happily married with two children. Her daughter, Rhonda, was engaged to be married and was graduating from college the same month as her wedding. As one might expect, Dana and her daughter were excited about the upcoming event, and Dana was involved in all the details.

In preparation for the wedding, Dana wanted to lose some weight. She saw her family doctor, who recommended a diet and a moderate exercise program. But Dana wanted a quick fix. With the upcoming wedding, she felt she did not have the time to lose the weight slowly as her doctor suggested. Some friends had lost weight quickly with a diet medication called Fen-Phen. Dana got a prescription for the medication and lost twenty pounds quickly.

At first she felt great, with boundless energy. She was proud when others noticed her girlish figure returning and commented on how good she looked. However, this energetic feeling was only temporary. After a while, even the simplest activity left Dana short of breath, and she was tired all the time. Something was terribly wrong. She saw her doctor, who discovered a heart valve problem. How could this have happened? She had never had a heart problem before.

It was about this time that the Mayo Clinic first reported twenty-four cases of heart valve damage attributed to Fen-Phen. Yes, the medication had damaged Danas heart valve to the point that nothing more could be done to help her. She passed away soon after her daughters wedding and graduation.

Let me ask you a question: What do Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Heath Ledger, John Belushi, Chris Farley, Anna Nicole Smith, Elvis Presley, and yes, Dr. Sigmund Freud have in common? No, it is not that they are entertainment icons or psychoanalysts. Their deaths were the results of the use of various medicationsyes, medications. Did these people die because of a lack of knowledge? Perhaps. But these are just a few of the well-known persons whose deaths have made front-page headlines. Let me tell you, we have a rapidly escalating problem. I do not want one more person to die from a lack of knowledge. Medications can kill. Medications do kill. Medications have killed. Medications are killing, and not nearly enough is being said. I hope to change this.

As I sat down to write the most significant introduction in my life as a physician, I found myself wondering, What can I write to touch your heart? What can I write to help you to grasp the enormity of the problem? What words can I use that will enter your mind and change the way you think and live? In just a few short pages these words have the opportunity to save more lives than anything else I have done in my profession as a cardiologist. Words are sometimes inadequate when faced with a cultural and worldwide problem. Words seem just as inadequate when I want to shake up the status quo, open your eyes, and help you to know the truth.

If doctors had known, most of them would not have written three to four million prescriptions for Fen-Phen. William Osler, a highly respected Canadian physician and one of the founders of the medical school at Johns Hopkins Hospital, once said, The person who takes medicine must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine. With billions of prescriptions being written each year, medications are killing more and more individuals. I want to raise the possibility and make the case that medications are the leading cause of death, at least in North America, and perhaps in the world.