I've always been irritated that birth control pills are prescription-only. I don't need a prescription for the over-the-counter cold medicine that makes my heart race double-time & causes mood swings; why the heck do I need a prescription for an optional drug whose main possible side effects are pimples and reduced monthly cramps?
I'm hardly a conspiracy-theory junkie, but this is exactly the kind of thing that makes me want to start picketing street corners, ranting about the evils of a paternalistic, pseudo-Victorian society trying to control women's sexuality.
So I am naturally overjoyed that Plan B has just been approved to be sold over the counter. My only question: how long is it going to take for the rest of us? Come on, we don't want to incentivize people to plan poorly . . . do we?
Thursday, August 24, 2006
One small step . . .
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1 comment:
Couldn't agree more.
One more example: An oximeter is a very small, very lightweight, utterly painless diagnostic tool that slips over your fingernail rather like a big paperclip. It measures how much oxygen your blood is getting by taking an instant laser reading through your fingernail. My pulmonary doctor or his techie routinely reads it on my annual checkup, along with listening to my heart and measuring my blood pressure. Couldn't be easier, more harmless, or less invasive. Clipping it on, and reading it, apparently involves a skill level right up there with reading a thermometer, or, say, a bar code at the supermarket check out. It takes maybe 3 seconds, and of course your insurance is suitably billed.
Note--this is a measuring instrument. It does not treat anything. It does not change anything. It does not have any side effects or after effects. It does not have a waiting time. It does not have a you-need-skill-and-training-to-interpret-this result factor. It does not diagnose. And it does not pretend to cure anything.
So--when I saw them advertised on the web for $198, I thought, Well, if they ever get down to under twenty bucks, I think I will buy one, purely out of idle curiosity and an untoward enthusiasm for cute little tools: before and after chavasana, for example--notice any difference? Or before and after a third cup of coffee?
(And, while this isn't an issue for me, it occurs to me that for people with heavy duty medical conditions, this device might be extremely useful. Just like monitoring blood pressure, or blood sugar levels is important for some people. Knowing what was going on might well keep some fragile patients out of the emergency rooms, right?)
But then I kept reading: prescription required.
I'm afraid you're exactly right. If knowledge may be power, then here is one more FDA incentive to plan poorly--and ignorance isn't always bliss.
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