by Patient privacy prevents precise calculation of the fraction of Covid 19 patients in the USA being treated with Hydroxychloroquine or Chloroquine. However, Hospitals are purchasing hugely increased amounts Christopher Rowland reports. Data gathered in the first 17 days of March by Premier Inc., a large group purchasing organization for 4,000 U.S. hospitals, showed a 300 percent week-over-week increase in orders of chloroquine and a 70 percent week-over-week boost in orders of hydroxychloroquine. I think that, because of the association with Trump, this is presented as a bad thing. Certainly there is a problem of short supplies. Hydroxychloroquine is used to treat Lupus Erythematosus and Rhumatoid Arthritis and those people have trouble making sure they
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Patient privacy prevents precise calculation of the fraction of Covid 19 patients in the USA being treated with Hydroxychloroquine or Chloroquine. However, Hospitals are purchasing hugely increased amounts
Christopher Rowland reports.
Data gathered in the first 17 days of March by Premier Inc., a large group purchasing organization for 4,000 U.S. hospitals, showed a 300 percent week-over-week increase in orders of chloroquine and a 70 percent week-over-week boost in orders of hydroxychloroquine.
I think that, because of the association with Trump, this is presented as a bad thing. Certainly there is a problem of short supplies. Hydroxychloroquine is used to treat Lupus Erythematosus and Rhumatoid Arthritis and those people have trouble making sure they get their medicine, because of the sudden new demand.
The article begins with the odd reference to the FDA as if the FDA regulated off label prescription of drugs. The only legal effect of an FDA finding that the drugs work when treating Covid 19 is that manufacturers would then be allowed to claim this in advertisements. This is extremely irrelevant. The drugs are off patent and produced by many firms — there are no huge profit margins there. Also the free publicity dwarfs any possible ad campaign. The FDA has no relevant authority here.
It seems that there is an idea among many people that doctors shouldn’t do anything unless it is proven to work in a clinical trial. I recall (but can’t find) and article in which Dr Arnold Relman (editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and pretty much head of the medical establishment) denounced this. Waiting for clinical trials is a decision. It is a decision which has caused deaths. There is no option to stop the clock while the trial progresses. Patients who could benefit from or be harmed by novel treatments exist.
The idea that the practice of medicine should be vaguely like the approval of pharmaceuticals is definitely new. I am 100% sure that the main driver is fear of malpractice suits. It is very necessary to have an official published standard of care — following this standard is the only protection against malpractice suits when outcomes are bad &, you know, we all end up dead in the end.
But doctors must practice also when there is no standard (that is no committee of respected doctors is willing to take the moral not legal responsibility of drafting one). Obviously there is no standard of care for Covid 19. Also obviously many doctors are sensible enough to look at the balance of evidence in the absense of proof and make decisions which they believe are best for the patient in the absence of certain knowledge and knowing that they might regret the decision with the benefit of hindsight.
I don’t understand why official talk about medical care is so different from the current actual practice. I think it is partly about practical action vs scientific research. In scientific research it is perfectly fine to have open questions. If there is a patient on the edge of death, it is necessary to decide now.
But I am more confident than I was that small c conservatism is not killing as many people in the USA as it might.