Show proprietary REMEDIES VS PUS physicians prescriptions stat st cs show of the deaths from M suse of drugs in two years only three th ree per cent were due to patent me medic d 1 nes accord ng to figures figures based on med cal ca certificates the press committee of the tar tary association of america will pre sent at the next meeting of that body a report showing the number of acci dental deaths caused by patent cines in the two years ending june 30 1907 as compared with deaths deat hs from other causes almost immediately after the begin ning of the latest crusade against proprietary medicines this committee was nas instructed to collect data this work was done through fhe the clipping bureaus which furnished accounts of all deaths exclusive of suicide due to the misuse of medicines drugs or poisons the result showed that 0 only three per cent could be traced dl di to the products made by the members of the association the greatest care Is said to have been exercised in tabulating the fig ures received whenever the cause of death was doubtful special hinves ti gation was made no matter cherp the case might have occurred the work of assorting and preparing the record was done in chicago and tho the original clippings and correspondence are ate in the possession of ervin F kemp la salle street that city the association associations s publicity agent the report says in part A large number of accidents re suiting fatally or otherwise were caused by the carelessness of persons who left drugs medicines or poisons within the reach of children A large number also were caused by persona persons going to medicine cabinets in the dark and taking down the wrong bottle in no case reported was any medicine patent or otherwise held responsible for injury or death except when left within the reach of children or taken or administered in gross overdose the committee says that it is likely that any cases of death from the use of patent medicine escaped the newspapers but that it Is probable that death from the causes tabu did occur without receiving pub licit physicians of course report the causes of death the committee sas says that they would be the last to suppress the cause if due to the use of medicine not regularly prescribed A recapitulation of the committee committees a findings show 4 cases of poisoning of which 1 1753 were fatal the great est number of cases 1636 1 with deaths is attributed to medi medicines cines other than proprietary remedies there are on the list 90 cases of sick ness and 43 deaths due to patent medi cines analyzing its statistics the commit tee finds cases of sickness with ith deaths due to strychnine tablets which are among physicians favorite remedies and are often left within the reach of children under the head of miscellaneous prescriptions are grouped 44 cases caseb where the report says it has been lin possible after diligent inquiry to as certain the name or the character of the drug or medicine which caused in jury or death beyond the fact that the medicine or drug was prescribed by a physician of these cases 18 were fatal the committee says under the head of all patent medicines are grouped all those rem edies which are recognized as patent medicines and which are advertised direct to the public for internal use competent authorities say that at least one half of the medicines taken in the united states are of the kind known as patent medicine and yet in two years among 80 people there have been but ninety cases forty three fatal that have been re ported in the newspapers from the use or misuse of these remedies not in a single fully substantiated case is it ever charged that any pat ent medicine in recommended doses was injurious in this connection it should be understood that in making death certificates and in reporting cases of injury to the news newspaper paperA from which these cases were secured a physician had the final word and in this connection is there any ability that the doctor will hide bis his own carelessness or neglect or that of 0 a fellow practitioner whose support he may want at some time and is there ther even a possibility that he might hide any responsibility that could be thrown at a patent medicine 7 ask yourself these questions then when you have found the answer consider that during all this most thorough and careful investigation covering a period of two years in not a single established case was it shown that patent medicine in 1 recommended doses was injurious the most remarkable case lepor reported ted w was as that of an italian laborer in new york who suffered from pains in the th chest A physician ordered a porous plaster which the patient ate with fatal results |