Before I write this piece, I’d like to say that I am not out to antagonize or even denigrate the manufacturing company in question. I write because I’ve been there, worse it was the same prescription I took. I felt my lungs shrink, snuffed of air. And for the first in a long while I felt the brush of death. It was too close. So, I won’t be exaggerating to say that I had felt same strokes the 11 year boy felt, only that I came out unscathed. He came out beaten. Need I say that was the last time I laid finger on that drug?
According to the story, 11 year old Calvin suffered 65% burns to his body after suffering a horrific allergic reaction to the painkiller ibuprofen. So bad was the reaction that he ended up on a life support machine.
He had earlier taken the drug to tackle a viral infection only to wake up with rash on his face and swelling to his ear. Doctors had mistaken the rash for chickenpox and gave him more antibiotics. He turned out worse.
His parents were advised to take him to Addenbrook’s Hospital Cambridge where he was popped with further antibiotics. The effect? … Calvin could neither walk, nor talk nor see by the following morning.
The parents rushed him back to the hospital where it was established that Calvin had a potentially deadly skin disease that usually results from a drug reaction. One month later Calvin is still recovering after undergoing two operations.
My question is; why should a potentially lethal drug be allowed in the drugstore? Or, is it that only little percentage of people suffers these side effects? Or has life simply lost value?
