A study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, (2006; 296: 1086-93) found that whilst prescribing doctors should be reporting side effects and adverse reactions in his patients many do not do so. In fact, the actual rate of reporting was found to be alarmingly low - about 10 times below the optimum level set by the World Health Organization. The study report procedures amongst doctors in Portugal, where 26 adverse reactions were reported per 1 million population, whereas WHO say that this should be closer to 300 report per million people.
The researchers said that this under-reporting was not restricted to Portugal, and that the USA, Canada, Italy, Sweden and the UK also have very low reporting rates
Commenting on this study WDDTY said that if the WHO targets were reached, the whole drug industry would 'grind to a halt', and of course, that would never do!
In the Guardian, on 12th May 2006, Sarah Bosely wrote that the BMA had said the Yellow Card scheme was not being used enough. The article quoted BMA figures that at least 250,000 people went to hospital each year because of the damaging side-effects of medication, and that about 5,000 die. As a result the BMA was urging doctors to be more vigilant, and to report any suspected side-effects their patients might experience. They said that only an estimated 10% of adverse drug reactions were currently reported through the "yellow card" scheme to the MHRA. A BMA spokesperson said
"Doctors have a professional duty to report all adverse drug reactions, especially if children or the elderly are involved. Unfortunately too many health professionals are confused about reporting procedures. Doctors must make sure they report any suspected [adverse drug reactions] and at the same time increase awareness among their patients about the reporting process".
Another BMA spokesman said that not all side-effects could be picked up in clinical trials before the medicine is licensed, which meant that greater vigilance was needed on the part of doctors, pharmacists and nurses. In the same article the MHRA urged healthcare professionals to use the yellow card scheme. It said
"There is no need to prove that the medicine caused the adverse reaction, just the suspicion is good enough"
The article concludes by saying that it has long been known that doctors did not report all the suspected side-effects their patients tell them about, and that 10 years earlier the BMA had issued similar guidance to doctors - but with little effect. So what does this mean, in practical terms?
It means that if only 10% of the known DIEs of a drug or vaccine are reported, these drugs and vaccines are 10 times more dangerous than the conventional medical establishment realises, or accepts.
Yet there is another issue, and that involves the honesty and transparency with which the conventional medical establishment deals with issues about the dangerousness of drugs. In an Observer article published on 20th January 2008, Dennis Campbell reported that Steve Walker, chief executive of the NHS Litigation Authority, said that doctors must own up to the mistakes they make in order to cut down on compensation claims that were totalling £613 million annually. He called for a new culture of honesty and openness.
Negligence lawyers say that the main reason a number of victims take legal action is to obtain more information. 'The message to doctors is: if you're aware of an error, or a shortfall in what's been delivered, you should feel free, indeed you should feel under an obligation, to tell your patients and to apologise and to explain, either verbally or in writing, even if the patient is likely to sue,' he told The Observer.
"The explanation bit is really important to many, many claimants. It doesn't matter if it heads off a claim or encourages a claim, people as human beings and patients are entitled to this and they should be getting it. Some patients are dissatisfied by not getting this information already. Some patients and patients' relatives feel short-changed by the system. They believe there's a lack of honesty, of frankness and of candour.'
The NHSLA handles some 5,400 claims every year for clinical negligence in England. Walker wants doctors to 'sympathise with the patient or the patient's relatives' where someone has died and to 'express sorrow or regret' at any death or injury which followed substandard care. He has put his advice in writing to every hospital in England and will do the same to doctors, midwives and nurses through their professional bodies.
'I feel, and this authority feels, very strongly that people are entitled to know when something has gone wrong; entitled to an apology if something has gone wrong; entitled to an explanation of what went wrong and why, in words that they will understand; and entitled to the opportunity to ask questions about what happened and why,' Walker said. 'While some hospitals already do these things, I want to see the NHS adopt this as universal good practice.'
Whilst this kind of testimony is often made, it is usually done within the context of doctors, or some other medical staff. making a mistake or error.
What this ignores is that the medicines conventional doctors use are inherently dangerous.
It is a matter of inadequate and dangerous tools being defended, whilst those who task is to use those tools are blamced for the problems that arise from using them!
Often the conventional medical establishment will be heard calling for more honesty and transparency, and the importance of admitting that mistakes have been made. Yet, as this book will show time and time again is that dangerous drugs and vaccines are being prescribed, and the DIEs they cause are either not known, they are denied, or or they are heavily discounted.
There is little honesty or transparency within the conventional medical establishment about the dangerousness of pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines, either before, during and after their prescription.
As a result, many people will read this book and find it hard to believe how common illness and diseases, many at epidemic proportions, some never known before the present era, are known to be caused by conventional drugs and vaccines. They will be surprised because their doctors have never told them!
Postscript February 2022
