Part 2: Why Medications at Standard Doses Cause So Much Injury and Death

(Continued from Part 1)

At Greatest Risk: The Elderly

Gerontologists agree that older patients should receive lower initial drug doses, but more and more drugs are marketed at doses that are identical for old and young (see Table 2 below). As my 2000 article in Geriatrics noted, Allegra, Zestril, Claritin, Celebrex, Prilosec, Lipitor and many other drugs rise to much higher blood levels in the elderly, indicating a need for lower doses²¹.

Yet, even with these drugs, manufacturers do not recommend and doctors do not prescribe lower doses for older patients. Not surprisingly, the elderly sustain far …