Left I on the News

The latest in a long-running series, once again featuring a hat tip to Susie the Suburban Guerilla for finding the story in the Los Angeles Times:

"Family physician Mary Frank couldn't understand why one elderly patient with high-blood pressure wasn't responding to his medication. She had been steadily increasing his dose, but his blood pressure remained unstable.

"Finally, the man admitted he had been sharing his pills with his wife. He also would stop taking his medication a few days before his appointment hoping his blood pressure would be higher so that he and his wife could then split a higher-dose drug.

"But the practice put the couple at risk of a stroke or heart attack."

And I certainly hope that tax money didn't have to pay for this blindingly obvious research:

"Researchers say those most likely to share prescription drugs are the poor and the elderly, as well as family members who have a common chronic illness, such as diabetes.

"'If you ask people why they are doing this, they say they have no other option,' said Chien-Wen Tseng, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii who has studied the ways people deal with rising prescription drug prices. 'To many of them, it's better than not taking the medication at all.'"

But definitely not better than a system where health care is a right, not a privilege for those who can afford it.