Everything Else > Cool Stuff

Things considered normal in the US

<< < (2/3) > >>

Jericoke:

--- Quote from: Scott on August 22, 2018, 03:38:04 PM ---The one that stands out for me is the advertising of prescription drugs.  A while back I bought a Newsweek magazine and it seemed like 3/4 of the ads were for prescription drugs, always followed by an entire page of warnings about the drug.  Our prescriptions are all included in our health care here...there is nothing to choose.

The toplessness on beaches is a red herring.  There are certainly places where nudity is accepted, and nobody bats an eye if a woman goes topless while sunbathing (they almost always cover up to stand up and go in the water), but I would guess the number of topless women at a typical beach in Europe to be around 2-3%.

--- End quote ---

The prescription drug thing is actually government enforced transparency.  Because they publish the full list of possible side effects, then doctors don't have to spend their entire visit listing all of the possible side effects.  Given how much it costs to visit an American doctor, do you really want to spend an extra 20 minutes listening to a list of side effects?

I assume the rest of the world just trusts the doctor and doesn't care about possible side effects.

Dare:
Trouble is most the time the side effects are worse than the
disease your taking them for

lkjohnson1950:
Got that right!!   :good:

Alianora La Canta:
It's illegal to advertise a prescription-only drug in the UK. They cannot be provided by the doctor without a written description of what is supposed to be a plain-English side-effect list, along with what actions should be taken if the side effect in question is noted (these range from "Speak to your doctor; do not cease use without advice from your doctor" to "Cease use immediately and seek urgent medical assistance") Some people have noted that it is not always intuitive (for example, "emotional laibility" is used as a polite euphemism for suicidal thoughts, but only someone with expertise in medicines - or who watch certain documentaries - would likely be aware of that) and long words are often seen on these descriptions. Plus lots of people can't be bothered to read that stuff anyway.

The doctor is not obliged to discuss any symptom possibilities (possibly just as well, since appointments are now down to 10 minutes in the UK) unless the patient is known to be unable to comprehend written instructions and doesn't have a responsible carer, but may do so if they think there are any you should particularly be aware of (if they are severe and/or more likely to present in your case due to your medical history). More often, it'll be "Don't worry if x, y or z happens but if anything else about your health worsens on this drug, please let me know". Of course, it takes a month for me to get an appointment with my doctor these days, so the course of medicine is likely to have meant to have ended before such information actually reaches my doctor...

cosworth151:
It used to be illegal to advertise prescription drugs here in the State. Then, big pharma sued saying that the ban violated their freedom of speech. Since we have the best government money can buy, and big pharma has lots of money, the doors were flung open wide.

They are required to list the side effects, but that can sometimes be sidestepped by referring viewers to a print advert. One funny "side effect" of that rule: All of the adverts for Viagra, Cialis and other such drugs contained the line "See our ad in Golf Digest." It seemed to confirm what any of us had suspected about golfers for years.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page