Diabetes and Unnecessary Medications for Elderly

Elderly Americans are among the most heavily-medicated demographic in the world. Many of these medicines are necessary, contributing both to longer life and sustained quality of life. There is no denying the miracles of modern medicine, and how much worse off we would all be without it. But, whenever there’s profit to be made, there will be motivation for some physicians and drug companies to market medications that are not necessary. At best, these medicines are placebos. At worst, some of these medications even make things much worse.

A new study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine brings attention to the fact that many medications currently prescribed to treat type-2 diabetes have downsides that far outweigh any benefits. Many of those suffering from type-2 diabetes developed the disease in the first place because of medication complications and predatory business practices. These people are paying twice for the mistakes of others.

The findings from the study are sobering:

• Diabetes medications, despite their significant side effects, only add an average of three weeks of life for many patients.
• Diabetes medications have little impact on the development of diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy, two of the most devastating side effects of diabetes.
• Diabetes medications show little to no improvement in decreasing the chance of heart attack.

Of course, there are benefits for some patients when taking these drugs, but all too often doctors fail to advise their patients of the cost-benefit analyses available in the medical literature. Instead, they continue to write prescriptions that the patients might not need.

If you or someone you love has been prescribed unnecessary medications, or if you believe you developed diabetes as a result of a medication, do not hesitate to contact a lawyer to help you with the difficult fact-finding necessary to make sure that you are not a victim of medical malpractice.