Modern medicine has severely over-prescribed medications, to the point where medication side effects, abuse and over-use are a major cause of death in themselves. Life expectancies for British adults have stalled since 2010, even though more than half of British adults are on at least one prescription. Most of the increased costs projected to hit taxpayers in the foreseeable future are from chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease that have a major lifestyle component. However, prescriptions for these diseases fail to treat root causes and may gloss over patient preference.

Key Takeaways:

• Modern medicine over-prescribes medication and this has become a threat to our public health.
• In the UK, use of prescription drugs is very high and recently, life expectations have reduced since 2010.
• An unhealthy ageing population, not the cost of an ageing population, is a threat to the welfare system.

“His case is a great example of how evidence-based medicine should be practised. This is the integration of clinical expertise, the best available evidence and – most importantly – taking patients’ preferences and values into consideration.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/30/modern-medicine-major-threat-public-health