The Risks of Prescription Drugs / edited by Donald Light. - 1 online resource (178 pages) - A Columbia / SSRC Book (Privatization of Risk) . - A Columbia / SSRC Book (Privatization of Risk) .

1. Bearing the Risks of Prescription Drugs -- 2. The Food and Drug Administration: Inadequate Protection from Serious Risks -- 3. The Commercialization of Medical Decisions: Physicians and Patients at Risk -- 4. Pharmaceuticals and the Medicalization of Social Life -- 5. Medicalization and Risk Scares: The Case of Menopause and HRT -- Epilogue: Toward Safer Prescribing and Better Drugs -- Contributors.

Calling on a diverse range of experts, this book tackles critical questions about the pharmaceutical industry and the privatization of risk. To what extent does the FDA protect the public from serious side effects and possible disasters? What is the impact of giving greater roles to the private sector and markets and reducing public oversight? This volume considers whether current rules and incentives put patients at greater risk; the effect of the expansion of disease categories; the industry's justification of high U. S. prices and the financial risk they must bear; and the underlying shifts in the burdens of risks borne by individuals in the world of pharmaceuticals.

9780231519267


Prescription Drugs--Standards--United States


Electronic books.

RA401 .A3 / R57 2010

615.7042