Latest news with #Tylenol
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pharmacist punished for leaving bag of drugs at fast-food outlet
A Winnipeg pharmacist has been disciplined and fined for giving an unmarked bag containing unlabelled prescription drugs to a restaurant employee, who was supposed to hold it for the patient. The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba placed Hajra Mirza on a 12-month suspension and fined her $20,000, plus $130,000 for the cost of its investigation into the case that dates back to 2019. The decision was released last week. In June 2019, the college received a police report that alleged Mirza left the drugs with an employee at a Dairy Queen to be retrieved by an associate of the patient. The decision said that around June 14, Mirza was contacted by a patient, whose name is redacted in the decision, regarding pain and fever-like symptoms following dental surgery. Mirza advised the patient to contact a nurse practitioner, who prescribed Tylenol #3 with codeine, naproxen and clindamycin. The prescriptions were faxed to the Rossmere Pharmacy on Henderson Highway, which Mirza part-owned at the time, but the pharmacy was closed. Mirza drove to the pharmacy, bottled the medication and left the unlabelled bottles of drugs with an employee at the nearby fast-food outlet. 'Failing to enter the prescriptions properly put patient safety at risk.'– excerpt from ruling by the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba When the individual came to pick up the drugs the DQ owners wouldn't hand them over and called police. 'Mirza returned to the DQ, and the police escorted her to the pharmacy, where the medications were labelled. The police then delivered the medications,' the decision said. The ruling doesn't explain why Mirza gave the drugs to a fast-food worker. The decision said Mirza's actions contravened several requirements, including ensuring all drugs are secured against theft, loss or diversion, that they are labelled correctly and that drugs not be dispensed unless a prescription record is made. 'Failing to enter the prescriptions properly put patient safety at risk. Mirza missed an allergy warning on… patient screen that (the patient) had previously had a negative reaction to clindamycin,' the decision said. Mirza was given a one-year suspension but was granted credit for 10 months, the length of time she had voluntarily surrendered her licence. The investigation found faults with Rossmere Pharmacy, including that patients files were stored in a public place and the narcotic safe was left wide open. The decision noted Mirza was disciplined in 2012 while working as a pharmacist in British Columbia. She was handed a 30-day licence suspension and fined $3,000 after the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia found she had prepared a 'fraudulent employment document' under the letterhead and purported signature of her current employer which she submitted to a prospective employer. Nicole BuffieMultimedia producer Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole. Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Newsweek
a day ago
- Business
- Newsweek
New Mom's Lesson About Giving Birth in US Stuns: 'Too European for This'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A mother of newborn twins has sparked a viral conversation after sharing her theory on why fertility rates in the United States are reaching historic lows. Emily Fish, 36, from Ohio, posted a TikTok video (@_e_fish_) on July 17 reflecting on her recent birth experience and the bills that followed. Her clip, which has racked up over 831,000 views, offers a personal lens on the broader national trend of declining childbirth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that the general fertility rate in the U.S. declined by 3 percent in 2023, hitting an all-time low. Fish says that the reason people are having fewer children might not lie in personal lifestyle choices, but in something more tangible. "Maybe it's because the cost of having a baby in America is over six figures, and that's just to get through the hospital and back home," Fish said in the video. Fish can be speaking to the camera while holding one of her babies. Fish can be speaking to the camera while holding one of her babies. TikTok/@_e_fish_ 'They've Already Been Billed More Than My Student Loans' The financial platform Credit Karma says that raising a child is now more expensive than ever. A 2017 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated the cost of raising one child to age 17 at $233,610 for a middle-income family. Adjusted for inflation, that figure jumps to $318,949 for a baby born in February 2025. Fish gave birth to twin daughters five weeks ago via a scheduled C-section at 37 weeks, after a pregnancy that required intensive monitoring due to fetal growth concerns. Starting at 22 weeks, she had twice-weekly appointments, leading up to her delivery and four-day hospital stay. Fish's insurance was billed a total of $120,527.51, though she personally paid $2,788.70 out of pocket. "I am very fortunate; I have great insurance, and I have a low deductible," she said. Each of Fish's newborns was also billed separately—Baby A at $15,124.55, and Baby B at $14,872.55. "So I guess there was some sort of sibling discount," Fish said. "They're not even able to blink yet, and they've already been billed more than the total cost of my student loans," she added. One of the most-surprising charges came when she experienced a headache at seven months pregnant. Although Fish's blood pressure was only slightly elevated, she said the hospital tested for preeclampsia, monitored the babies' heart rates, gave her two extra-strength Tylenol pills, and performed blood work. The bill? $9,115. Delivery and postpartum care alone came to $65,665.50. "I'm very grateful for the experience that I had and great insurance, but I know, for a lot of people that live in America, that is simply not possible," Fish said. "I probably would have had to file bankruptcy," she added. Americans Rethink Parenthood Indeed, money is on many Americans' minds when considering starting a family. A Pew Research Center survey of 770 adults aged 18 to 49 found that not having children made it easier to afford the things they want, pursue hobbies, save for the future, and even advance in their careers or maintain a social life. The survey also found that the most-common reason for not having children was simply not wanting them. Sixty-four percent of women under 50 cited that reason, compared to 50 percent of men. TikTok Reacts So far, the video has garnered over 180,000 likes and more than 6,100 comments—many from shocked viewers outside the United States who expressed disbelief at the high costs. "In the UK you pay for parking and that's it," said one user. "That's wild. So having children is only for the rich in the U. S.?" asked another. "The world is so over populated too like. it's O.K. if some people don't want kids," said a third commenter. Fish replied, "I agree—people can choose without judgment. But raising a family should be financially accessible for those who want that life." One comment read: "I'm too European for this." Newsweek is waiting for @_e_fish_ to provide a comment.
Vox
2 days ago
- Health
- Vox
Can't sleep? It's not totally your fault.
For much of history, humans probably got pretty lousy sleep. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, many people slept in the same bed alongside their family in dwellings lacking any temperature control beyond a fire or air ventilation. Those homes were littered with bed bugs, fleas, and lice that not only feasted on their hosts at night but also spread diseases, which — in the absence of modern medicine — kept the infirm awake and suffering. The noises of cities and rural life alike also made sleep difficult, thanks to the all-hours bustling of laborers, horse-drawn carriages, and livestock with whom farmers might've shared a home. 'Because in the winter they generated warmth,' says A. Roger Ekirch, a history professor at Virginia Tech and author of At Day's Close: Night in Times Past. Nighttime itself was a risk. Slumber left people vulnerable to crime or death from fire or other natural disasters. Some prayers throughout history sought God's protection from the litany of threats adherents encountered in the dark, says Ekirch. For those who are lucky enough to have access, modern marvels like central heating and air conditioning, comfortable beds, and even Tylenol have all but eliminated many of these barriers to sleep. 'We don't have to worry about the myriad perils to sound slumber and our physical well-being that people did 300, 400 years ago,' Ekirch says. 'We don't have to worry about the myriad perils to sound slumber and our physical well-being that people did 300, 400 years ago.' Still, sleep doesn't come easily to millions of Americans. Over 14 percent of adults had trouble falling asleep most days in 2020, according to the National Health Interview Survey. Nearly just as many people — 12 percent — have been diagnosed with chronic insomnia, according to an American Academy of Sleep Medicine survey. Among the 33 percent of US adults who get less than seven hours of sleep a night, native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and Black adults are the most likely to get shorter durations of shut-eye. Those with an annual household income of less than $15,000 are also likely to be sleep-deprived. Despite seemingly prime conditions for sleep, why do so many suffer from restless nights? The most comfortable bed in the darkest room might not be enough to overcome a mix of environmental, systemic, and behavioral forces preventing quality slumber. Modern lifestyles aren't ideal for sleep American sleep culture is marked by contradictions. Anyone who's endured a night of terrible sleep can attest to its importance in cognitive functioning, mood, hunger, and overall health. Yet, many people act in ways that sabotage their hope for a good night's sleep. We stay up later than we should to catch up on work or news or precious free time — what is sometimes called revenge bedtime procrastination. We consume content on our phones so upsetting or attention-grabbing as to prevent our falling asleep, although many of us know by now that screen use an hour before bed results in delayed bedtime and less sleep overall. We settle into bed and realize that late-afternoon coffee or nightcap too close to bedtime has come to collect its vengeance. Some people innately need more sleep than others, and these so-called long sleepers simply cannot find the time in their busy schedules to devote to 10 hours of slumber. Try as we might to have it all, optimizing our waking hours might come at the detriment of our sleep. 'We're trying to have our cake and eat it, too,' Ekirch says. 'The less time we accord to sleep, the more perfect we want it to be for when we do nod off.' Ironically, a population of people with no notable sleep issues has turned sleep into a competitive sport, leveraging mouth tape, expensive mattresses, and sleep trackers like the Oura Ring in pursuit of the perfect night's sleep. This fixation on enhancing sleep may actually do more to promote insomnia than peaceful slumber, experts say. Most disruptions to sleep cannot be blamed on personal choices, though. Parents and other caregivers are among the most sleep-deprived, often contending with their children's inconsistent sleep schedules. And the sleep patterns of shift workers — which account for 20 percent of the US workforce — are dictated by their employers. The ill effects of poor sleep can negatively impact mental health. The opposite is true, too: Mental distress has consequences for sleep. 'Stress, anxiety, weird work schedules,' says Jessi Pettigrew, a clinical social worker who focuses on sleep disorders, 'can lead to the development of sleep disorders like insomnia or circadian rhythm disorders, which basically means being misaligned with your biological sleep schedule because of social reasons.' Environmental and systemic barriers can disrupt sleep Outside of individual behavior, where we live has a role in sleep. Not having the ability to control the temperature in your bedroom because you lack effective heating or air conditioning can be a barrier to sleep, Pettigrew says. If you feel unsafe in your environment, you're less likely to get restful slumber, too, she adds. This tends to impact people with housing insecurity, refugees, and those who are incarcerated. Beyond the bedroom, noise and light pollution from bright street lights and traffic have been shown to interrupt sleep and contribute to insomnia — and those in low-income neighborhoods are more susceptible to these conditions. 'People who live in places with good natural light, green spaces, the ability to control the temperature and light and noise in their environment,' Pettigrew says, 'helps them to sleep better and better regulate their circadian rhythm during the day and sleep at night.' All of our waking experiences impact our ability to sleep, says Anita Shelgikar, a neurology professor at the University of Michigan Medical School and the president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine board of directors. And some of those waking experiences may be colored by racism and discrimination. Stress associated with racial discrimination has been linked to poor sleep. Among shift workers, people of color are more likely to work alternating day/night schedules, resulting in disrupted circadian rhythms. 'If that disrupts your sleep enough, that technically qualifies as shift-work sleep disorder,' says Jade Wu, a behavioral sleep medicine psychologist and author of Hello Sleep: The Science and Art of Overcoming Insomnia Without Medications. This disorder is marked by excessive sleepiness, insomnia, or both. The knock-on effects of altered sleep-wake schedules are profound, ranging from cardiovascular disease and obesity to mood and immune disorders. 'Sleep health disparities disproportionately affect the same populations who suffer from overall health disparities,' Shelgikar says. Those in rural or low-income areas who generally lack access to healthcare, let alone specialized sleep medicine, may continue to suffer from poor sleep, in addition to any number of physical and mental health conditions. Without individualized care, Shelgikar says, the disparities may only widen. How to overcome these sleep obstacles If you work odd hours or have a fussy baby, hearing the common advice of keeping your room cool and dark and only retreating to bed when you're sleepy can seem trite. Wu suggests identifying the environmental or circumstantial reason you aren't getting restful sleep and doing whatever you can to mitigate it. For those who live in spaces that aren't conducive to sleep — hot bedrooms or the constant wail of sirens all night — there are few things people can do beyond getting a fan or earplugs, Wu says. People with means and flexibility can seek out a doctor specializing in sleep medicine to diagnose potential disorders like insomnia or sleep apnea. If you work odd hours or have a fussy baby, hearing the common advice of keeping your room cool and dark and only retreating to bed when you're sleepy can seem trite. But if your conditions for sleep are pretty good and you still struggle to get shut-eye, the key, according to Wu, may be to not obsess over it as much. 'What you see in people with insomnia is that they're trying too hard,' she says. 'They're tracking their sleep too closely. They are perfectionistic about their sleep hygiene and doing things like going to bed too early or trying to take too many naps, trying to achieve a certain number of hours of sleep, or a certain score on their sleep tracker.' The human body was meant to sleep. And despite all the constructs and complications society throws our way, we still require sleep. Ironically, though, the more we fret over it, the more elusive it can become. As difficult as it seems, the best advice may be to surrender to the circadian rhythm. 'One thing that can help with sleep,' Pettigrew says, 'is just saying, I'm going to trust my body to take care of this.'
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Health
- The Hindu
Interview with Gardiner Harris, author of The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson
It's difficult to read Gardiner Harris' book at a stretch, only, and only because there are portions where you have to set it down and take a breather, and sigh. It is because the events of the book haunt you, turn you inside out and sometimes have you bristling with anger, the pages shaking in your hand. The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson, sometimes, is a drop down a rabbit hole on the dark side of the moon. The book is a hard hitting expose on what went on at J&J, the pharma major, and it uncovers the secrets across the company's repertoire of drugs and products from baby powder, Tylenol, Risperdal (antipsychotic), EPO (a cancer drug), metal-on-metal hip implants, among others, all adversely impacting the health of users. Chillingly, the company continued to market them, fully cognisant of the harmful effects. In a conversation, Harris, an investigative reporter himself, describes the Herculean task he took on, and what he was up against. In conversation with Gardiner Harris Among all the violations that you have chronicled, what did you think was the most egregious? J&J, early on, would find out that its product was dangerous, and would hide those dangers not only from the public, but from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and other regulatory agencies, knowing that it could result in a number of deaths. I estimate that at least 2 million Americans alone died from using J&J products. So it really is hard to rank order. But the worst of the worst, just in terms of sheer numbers, would probably be Risperdal. Epidemiological analysis shows that it is probably one of the most deadly drugs that has ever been sold in the U.S. It is sold to children, even though it causes boys to grow breasts and young girls to express milk. And again, the company hid those risks, lied about them in publications. You have written about how you grew up in a J&J town. How did you move on from that to investigating the company? I spent part of my growing up years in Princeton, New Jersey, right next to New Brunswick, where J&J is headquartered. There was a sense, growing up, that it was really a capitalistic ideal -- this was a company that both did well financially and did good in in society, and that it was seen as a sort of mom, apple pie and America all rolled into one. So when I first got the pharmaceutical beat, when I worked for The Wall Street Journal, I expected to have a wonderful time covering J&J. But my interactions with them were just the opposite and it surprised me that they were the least open with reporters, the most secretive. When the AIDS crisis in Africa hit at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the scandal around the pricing of drugs led many U.S. pharma companies to agree to allow generics companies to sell drugs in Africa. J&J was the only major manufacturer of AIDS drugs that refused to allow that. I couldn't believe it. I thought there must be some mistake, but in story after story, the image of this company ended up being entirely the opposite of what we had believed so long. It probably hit me hardest when my own first son was born. He was born early and ended up spending days in the NICU. Soon after, I got a whole bunch of documents on J&J's heartburn drug Propulsid. Even though the company had done 20 clinical trials in children and infants, each one of which had failed to show that there was a benefit; the company nonetheless underwrote a marketing programme to sell them to infants. Not only did this drug not help these children, but it caused a QT prolongation, which is a heart arrhythmia, and for newborns, and particularly for preemies, a heart arrhythmia can be fatal. What was J&J's response to the book? I did cover the company for many years, I knew a lot of the executives and I certainly knew how to reach out to the company. As soon as I got the contract for this book, I told them that I'm writing this book and I would love for them to participate in it. But J&J had the same reaction it had had throughout my career -- which is to stonewall, not talk to me, not participate, and hope the story goes away. Did you, at some time, feel a bit like Erin Brockovich? I never looked that good; it's tough competing with Julia Roberts! But what was difficult about this process was just how dark it was, and how depressing the work often was. I spent more than five years writing this book and I go to church quite regularly. I found that I really needed that outlet throughout this process, even more than normal because I found I needed to appeal to God to help me through this, because you can lose hope. For me, it's just a very dark tale and I am thrilled, and surprised, actually, that it's gotten as many readers as it has. Do you think that the FDA, as a regulatory agency, could have done better? The portrait I paint of the FDA is one of real feckless disregard for protecting the public. Unfortunately, the FDA is largely funded by drug makers by what are known as user fees. The result of that is that the FDA has become captive to the very industry that it regulates. When I talk about baby powder, for instance, people had petitioned the FDA repeatedly to mandate a cancer warning on all products with talcum powder, and this would have included Johnson's baby powder. The FDA refused to answer those petitions until finally J&J lost its first baby powder case, and then suddenly, the FDA had to answer these petitions; it did so in the negative and claimed that the baby powder was fine. In the U.S., it was the drug kingpin when it came to opioids and the FDA got a lot of criticism of its oversight of opioids. To deal with that criticism, the agency actually hired a former FDA commissioner who served on the board of directors for J&J for the previous dozen years. So, to advise the agency on how to deal with this crisis that was created by J&J, it hired a top J&J person! How did you decide on your chosen style for the book, an engaging, but investigative journalistic piece? I have to say, you know, as I said, the book was nearly twice as long and I ended up hiring an editor to help me not only on the decisions about which products to include in the end, but also about the style. The original version of the book had had more personal stuff and my years as a reporter covering the company. But my editors thought the reader needed a really neutral voice in telling this story. The only way that it can work is to be told in a very low-key, neutral way. In your view, was there was a turning point when J&J could have reversed things? I really think it was that period in the early 1980s and perhaps the late 1970s. It was Johnson's baby powder in particular, that provided the ladder down which the company itself descended into real darkness. The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson Gardiner Harris Ebury Press ₹899
Buzz Feed
6 days ago
- Buzz Feed
What Are Old True Crime Stories No One Knows Now?
People have been obsessed with true crime forever. In fact, if you grew up before the internet was a ~thing~, you probably remember how certain crime stories would sweep the nation either by word of mouth, good ol' fashioned newspapers, or by being on TV CONSTANTLY. Like, EVERYONE and their mom knew about them! And maybe you're shocked to find out that some of those crime stories that were a big deal back then seem to have all but been forgotten since. For example, if you were around in the '70s, you probably recall the widespread media coverage of serial killer Ted Bundy's case. You remember how soooo many young women were obsessed with Ted, despite the fact that he kidnapped, raped, and murdered at least 30 young women and girls. Meanwhile, your 22-year-old neighbor has no idea who you're talking about. Or, perhaps, you were in school in the '90s and remember coming home every day to your parents talking nonstop about the terrible story of Polly Klaas, a little girl who was kidnapped and murdered. But when you bring up the story now to your younger coworkers, they just shrug their shoulders. Maybe as a kid growing up in the '80s, you recall your mom throwing out all the medicine containers in your house as the story of the Tylenol Murders, where seven people died after ingesting cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules, unfolded. And when you look at safety packaging on EVERYTHING now, you can't resist but tell your kids about WHY it's there. Whatever your experience was, we want to hear all about it! So, tell us, what's a true crime story from "back in the day" that everyone was obsessed with that ~young people~ now might not have any idea about? Tell us in the comments below or via this totally anonymous form and your story could be featured in a future BuzzFeed post or video!
