Posted on 02/12/2018 5:44:03 PM PST by Armen Hareyan
Texas teacher named Heather Holland, aged 38, died of complications from the flu after she decided to give up medical treatment because she considered the 116 dollar Tamiflu "too expensive." The complications from flu-like disease led a 38-year-old teacher to the hospital where she died after a septic shock. The cost of the medicine that was prescribed is $116.
Heather Holland, of Weatherford, Texas, reportedly fell ill last Monday and two days later was diagnosed with the flu. According to Fox News, doctors prescribed Tamiflu, an antiviral drug that costs approximately $116.
However, according to a statement by Holland's husband...
(Excerpt) Read more at emaxhealth.com ...
What kind of car did she drive, did she go on vacations? I ask because she could not afford what she needed, and yet teachers get paid decently
Pneumonia ?
Felt sick on Monday. Diagnosed with flu on Weds and prescribed Tamiflu on Weds. Decided it was too expensive. Then took it on Thurs.
She went into septic shock.
Did Dr. mis-diagnosed symptoms ? The flu can cause septic shock.
Tamiflu is most effective within 72 of exposure. Tamiflu could also have cause the septic shock.
What’s the point of this story ? ( rhetorical )
How many people die from taking prescription medicines every year?
The story is a [scare] sales pitch for the drug industry.
It's really unclear at this point whether this is the worst, and not everyone who is getting the flu are getting the same stain. It does seem to have high virulence, though. Regarding the cost of flu medication, I think there are two separate questions about cost. The first is “is it worth the $116?”. My answer is yes, if it gives a reasonable chance of not dying. This poor women is leaving behind a husband and two young children. You can't put a price on these children having their mother. That said, it also has to be kept in mind that the efficacy of Tamiflu is not universally subscribed, and to be effective it is thought that it needs to be started within the first 48 hours of symptoms. Even with those vagaries, I still think that the price is worth it if you are at risk and there is a reasonable assumption that you will be helped.
The second question is “does the cost of R&D and production warrant the price of this medication?”. That's a much tougher one to answer. The wholesale price is substantially lower, so it would seem that the price is being hiked because there is an increase in demand. I have no problem with pharmaceutical companies making money, but just like being gouged by stores during a hurricane etc., it is wrong to price gouge people in need.
Before the flu epidemic, they released a study which pretty much stated that tamiflu was worthless. It didn’t shorten the length or severity of the flu.
There are millions of people --- not just "poor" people, and including my own family --- who would not readily shell out $116 for a medicine of dubious benefit for an ailment which --- in our experience --- "usually" goes away on its own.
This is unbearably sad for her family and friends. I'm interested in the septic shock aspect. How did that happen?
If her car broke down she’d have paid $116 to fix it
Priorities
Tamiflu might not have saved her anyway since she went into sepsis or cytokine storm so fast
Like the 1918 pandemic
Sick in the morning, dead by night
The implication is she couldnt afford but the reading suggests she didn’t want to pay it
Different
The truth was in another article I saw today.
It wasn’t she could not afford the medicine, it had to do with the fact, this from her husband, was that she was very frugal and thought she could do without the Tamiflu.
Big difference in the story line when you find out it was her choice not buy the medicine.
Yes I have replied too.
“So there’s an indirect connection to the flu,” continues Dr. Roach. “I can’t say that it’s not possible to get sepsis from flu itself. But the usual situation is when you get the flu, it causes damage to the lining of the lungs and makes it more likely for you to develop a very severe pneumonia after the flu. It’s the bacterial pneumonia that can cause the sepsis, which unfortunately, leads to death all too often.”
She gambled and lost, too bad.
Oh, for God s sake. Gouging?...Big pharma.???
We live in a capitalist society! I thought I was on a Bernie Sanders website!
I am grateful for BIG PHARMA for helping me throughout my life.
If the govt stayed out of healthcare everything would be cheaper...yap, yap, “ is $116 too much ???” You can’t have big pharmacy AND socialism together..so why don’t you whiners just go live in the woods and eat herbs. I’ll put my life on Big Pharma.
***It’s really unclear at this point whether this is the worst, and not everyone who is getting the flu are getting the same stain. It does seem to have high virulence, though.***
I haven’t really followed how bad this flu season vs flu shot or no flu shot is. However, I had a pretty bad cold around New Year’s which lasted for a couple of weeks, especially the cough.
I had a number of people relay to me how bad the flu season is this year. They asked if I had gotten a flu shot. I have not the shot. I told them that I had a cold and not the flu. They were all puzzled. I told them I never had a fever, I never had body aches, I had head congestion, followed by chest congestion. I had a cough that lasted for 2+ weeks. To me, I had a cold, not a flu, and that the two were different.
Am I wrong? Did I have “the flu”?
http://www.clltopics.org/datafiles/HomeCareofPatientsGrattanWoodson.pdf
Interesting reading
Fast deaths of younger adults indicates a pandemic flu
Viral pneumonia moves fast and there is no cure
I agree. I probably would not have paid $116 for Tamiflu as a healthy 38-year-old, assuming I would recover as usual. The 1918 flu has faded from memory and people do not expect to die from the flu when they are young and healthy.
Thanx. That’s what it looks & “feels” like, but it really seems like a dig at the price of the drug.
Nothing smells right with this story.
$116 co-pay (co pays assumes insurance ?) for Tamiflu which can be had for 110 bucks for 10 tablets without insurance ? ( as low as 50 bucks with coupons ?)
You, sir(?), are a voice of reason.
You know why American medicine is so “expensive”? Because it’s f#%$#@g worth it!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.