Warnings about Warnings

This is Kafkaesque. No, it's just stupid. The paternalists are concerned that the warning stickers on prescription drugs don't give us enough information and may prompt people not to read the full instructions. Can a ban against those efficient stickers be far behind? NYT Link.

Compared with the package insert prepared by the drug's manufacturer under the hot breath of the Food and Drug Administration or the one-page consumer summaries that pharmacists add, the warning stickers are just fluffy little extras.

As such, they are not standardized, regulated or even reviewed by the F.D.A. Nor are they generally tested for effectiveness before they hit the market.

But some health literacy experts worry that many patients, overwhelmed by a proliferation of paper warnings – often written in turgid prose – are relying instead on the stickers to tell them how to take medications.

"What I'm hearing from patients is that they don't really much use these handouts that are stapled to the bag," said Dr. Ruth Parker, an internist who treats patients at the large public hospital associated with Emory University in Atlanta. "What they will sometimes do is look at the label."