Hm, a coffin-shaped beach towel that says, “Over-exposure to the sun causes skin cancer killing 20 people every day. Protect yourself.”

But, over at the Safe Patient Project, one state reported 8 deaths or serious disabilities caused by medication error in a year (see Indiana analysis), and that was only for patients inside hospitals. Multiply that by the number of people taking drugs who are not hospitalized and again by the number of states in the Union. I think we can safely say the number will certainly be more than 20. Indeed, Safe Patient Project estimates 1.5 million medication errors per year. That’s more than 4000 errors per day. What percent of those are deadly? To beat skin cancer’s number, it needs to be just one half of one percent or more.

But, since there’s no flashy beach towel, no smooth coconut-smelling lotion to apply for protection, no sexy model to sell the idea, it’s unlikely any ad agency will take up the plight of the wrongly medicated in the United States.

What color ribbon shall we wear on our lapels to mourn the state of our broken health care system? What bumper sticker shall we plaster on our vehicles to warn our fellow citizens that “medical care for all” is only a small part of the problem: a very small part. Until the medical care system itself is reformed, until the powerful drug companies’ hold over doctors and legislators is broken, until our elected officials represent us instead of the deep-pocket corporations which contributed to their election coffers, there can be no true health care reform.

Protect yourself, indeed.

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