E-DRUG: Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) Reporting by Patients (cont)
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After I appeared in a TV show in Australia about Viagra recently I was
contacted by the wife of a man who had died suddenly within hours of
obtaining his first prescription for Viagra. The wife has shown me the
half eaten tablet. His doctor did not mention Viagra on the death
certificate and did not report this ADR. The man had a history of cardiac
disease and was taking a long acting nitrate daily which had been
prescribed earlier by the same doctor. He obtained the Viagra from a
different pharmacy than the one he usually used. Viagra comes with
consumer Product Information in Australia which warns about nitrates but
does not name them so the man may not have realised that he was taking a
contraindicated drug.
Reporting of this event does not tell us anything new about the drug. But
it does tell us that the systems that are supposed to protect people from
predictable errors failed for this man and his family.
The patient and/or his or her family may have a role in detection of severe
adverse events that doctors are not willing to report.
Fortunately the Australian Adverse Drug Reaction Committee are willing to
receive reports of such events from family members.
regards,
Peter
Dr Peter Mansfield
Director, MaLAM
MaLAM encourages pharmaceutical companies to provide more reliable
information to assist appropriate health care.
MaLAM Headquarters
PO Box 172, Daw Pk SA 5041, Australia
phone/fax +61 8 8374 2245
peter.mansfield@flinders.edu.au
http://www.camtech.net.au/malam
[Should this prescribing of sildenafil (please - use generic names in
E-drug!) together with nitrates, and then not giving the correct
information about the unnatural cause of death, not be considered as
professional malpractice or possibly a criminal offence? WB]
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