Prescription for Death

Prescription for Death:
"On New Year's Day 2006, I received an emergency call from my father's retirement community, where he had recently moved into assisted living after wandering into someone else's apartment.
He suffered from dementia
..The nurse at the retirement community told me he had been found in his room, unconscious, with little or no pulse. 

 The EMT crew shocked him back to life, and I met up with him at the hospital emergency room, where he was smiling and joking.
...His heart checked out fine.
Then I remembered a visit to his doctor a week before, where she recommended we have him take Namenda, an anti-dementia drug, along with the Aricept he had been taking for three years with some benefit. 

 I did an internet search and found that the side-effects of both drugs include bradycardia, a slowing of the heart rhythm. 

 Apparently, the Namenda had pushed him over the edge and stopped his heart. 

I had to vigorously insist to the cardiologist that his medication regimen be modified to prevent a recurrence.
After adjusting his medications, my father lived another nine months, and we were able to have some quality time together in spite of the dementia.
I realized from that incident how dangerous prescription drugs are, and how everyone taking them needs an informed, assertive advocate to monitor his use and check for side-effects. 
...The CDC publishes statistics on prescription drug use. 

 For the 2013-2014 period, 42.2% of people 65 and over take five or more drugs per day! 

 And 32.6% of people aged 18-44 take one to four drugs a day. 

 Of those, 8.8% are taking antidepressants (2011-2014).
To put this in perspective, the 2010 age 18-44 population was 112.8 million. 

 This means that 37 million or more people are taking one to four drugs a day, 3.3 million using antidepressants. 
...Take a look at a package insert for any prescription drug, and you will find a long list of side-effects, with everything from night sweats to "homicidal ideation." 

 That's a technical term meaning "you're gonna wanna kill somebody."...

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