Counterfeit Drugs Harm Real People
We're Collecting Their Stories
Protecting the safety of America's drug supply is about protecting human life. When we compromise the security of America's drug supply, we endanger patients. Sometimes people forget that these policy debates affect real people, but we at PSM never do.
Arizona resident Betty Hunter died of lung cancer, but how much longer would she have lived if her oncologist had not treated her with counterfeit Avastin? A recent Danish documentary tells the tragic story of Arizona grandmother Betty Hunter, who in 2011 sought treatment for her lung cancer at an oncology clinic in Chandler Arizona.…
Marcia Bergeron died in British Columbia in December 2006 from heavy metal poisoning caused by the prescription medications she had purchased from a fake online pharmacy. Friends and family were shocked, because Marcia’s health was robust, and she thought she was suffering from the common flu.
In March 2002, oncology nurses in Missouri at discovered that their patient, Maxine Blount, had been taking Procrit that was only one-twentieth the strength it should have been. The counterfeit did not treat her anemia, leading to delays between chemotherapy infusions that allowed her cancer to advance much more rapidly. She died in October 2002.
In 2005, her brother testified before Congress: if her drugs had been genuine “she would have lived longer…experienced much less pain and suffering, and have been able to spend more time with her family.”
- « Previous
- 1
- 2
PSM works with families who want to get the word out about the danger of fake medicines.
If you would like a family advocate to speak in your community, please email editors@safemedicines.org.
