By Its Own Name

"Should the patient know what drug he is taking? Should the name of the drug be written on the label where any one can see it?" The A.M. A. Journal asked these questions last week in an editorial, and answered yes -- with a few special exceptions.

A generation ago, labeling was usu ally unimportant because only a few medicines were potent enough to do much harm. But many of today's high-powered drugs, taken by the wrong patient or at the wrong time, can maim or kill as readily as they can cure. The most notorious example is thalidomide, which was freely sold as a harmless tranquilizer and sleeping pill.

Even before the thalidomide disaster, some doctors had concluded that it was time to purge the nation's medicine chests of prescription drugs lurking dangerously in bottles unlabeled except for the patient's name and a sequential number slapped on by the druggist. A few physicians got the habit of scrawling on their prescriptions "label as such" or the Latin suo nomine (by its own name). The labeling practice is fairly popular near big medical centers but much less common elsewhere, so probably 90% or more of all U.S. prescriptions are still unlabeled.

Since 1960, all prescriptions filled at Johns Hopkins Hospital pharmacy have automatically included the generic (chemical) name of the drug. This is better than a trade name, says Hopkins' famed Pediatrician Helen B. Taussig, because her investigation of thalidomide deformities showed that the drug had been sold under at least 53 trade names, and possibly as many as 100.

The A.M.A.'s Council on Drugs has not committed itself on generic v. trade names but has just adopted a resolution favoring the labeling of prescriptions as a general practice. The A.M.A. believes that labeling is not always advisable with opiates and barbiturates, because of the danger of misuse by addicts or for suicide. There may also be exceptions for anti-cancer drugs, if the patient does not know what disease he has. But in general, the A.M.A. concludes: "The name of the drug and its strength on the label may save precious minutes and spell the difference between life and death in cases of attempted suicide, accidental overdosage or accidental poisoning of children." Labeling also will help to prevent mix-ups be tween drugs being taken by different members of the family.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.