Medical Non-Compliance = Murder in Massachussetts

 A visit to a medical doctor frequently results in the patient leaving with a prescription for medication. Not all patients fill the prescription at a pharmacy. 20-30% of prescriptions in the US are never filled.

One factor to consider is the increasing popularity for alternative medicine, either in place of or conjunction with regimens outlined by a medical doctor. Many hospitals and clinics across the nation are combining conventional medicine with complementary treatments. Not so for pediatric cancer patients.

Depression is also a risk factor in non-compliance.

Other major medication non-compliance issues include: 

·        discontinuing taking your medication prematurely,

·        not filling or refilling a prescription due to:

·        finances, 

·        preference for self care measures other than medication, 

·        perceived lack of benefit

·        convenience

·        denial.

A study done at Ohio State University published by the American Medical Association in 2008 showed a rate of 48 percent  non-compliance with Pediatric Cancer Regimen with depressed patients. There would have been a national outcry of rage if those families had been tried for attempted murder.

A similar situation  exists with Kristin LaBrie, a mother of an autistic child who is being treated for depression. The jury convicted her of the murder of her son Jeremy Fraser because she did not give all of the medications ordered for his non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The chance that his death was caused by non-compliance (85% - 90 % survival rate with full compliance of all 5 stages of chemotherapy)  is as high as the chance that diagnosis of Leukemia (1 in 10 patients develop a second cancer within 10 years after receiving chemotherapy) was actually caused by the chemotherapy prescribed by the doctor.

Our society has regressed. Kristin LaBrie is from Salem, Massachusetts home of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. This is one of our nations most tarnishing events. The 319 years of advancements in technology, medicine, and a democratic government don't seem to have overcome the misogynistic treatment of women.