THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996 TAG: 9603160011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
As a hospital pharmacist, I read with interest the letter (Feb. 19) from Mary Jo Lascara concerning treating her mother's post-operative nausea.
Some background may be in order. The drug mentioned, ZOFRAN, is an effective drug for nausea that is usually reserved for conditions which do not respond to older, less-expensive drugs. Most often, post-operative nausea is effectively treated with less-expensive conventional drugs. Starting therapy with the ``biggest gun'' is a luxury our health-care system must abandon if the financial burdens of health care are to be controlled. It is not unusual for this one drug to account for 20 percent of a hospital's drug budget. Ms. Lascara did not say if her mother's nausea had been treated with other drugs that failed.
The statement that ``pharmacy restricts its use'' is misleading. The pharmacist carries out the mandate of the medical staff. As the medical staff responds to more financial constraints, more expensive drugs will be ``restricted.''
Some of these restrictions may seem inconvenient, as in this instance. But I am confident that needed treatments will be available. The conflict comes in the interpretation of ``needed.''
HARVEY J. MELTZER
Norfolk, Feb. 23, 1996 by CNB