This report exposes how pharmaceutical companies have illegally excluded deadly side effects from Australian prescription medication warnings, for over 20 years. With the assistance of doctors from Harvard and Yale universities, the report details how side effects relating to death, coma, respiratory depression, addiction, overdose, abuse, withdrawal symptoms, dependence and tolerance have been deliberately withheld from Australians.
By exposing the indefensible failure to uphold our human right to safe health care and the resulting loss of life, this report aims to force urgent changes in the way these conditions are treated.
Please support our change.org petition that calls on the Minister for Health - Greg Hunt to investigate the failure of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to regulate the Consumer Medicines Information (CMI), and to investigate the information that has been excluded from the CMIs in breach of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. Most importantly it calls on Minister Hunt to hold the pharmaceutical companies responsible to account for these deaths, and to urgently update all CMIs.
Australia’s Silent Killers - highlights of the Prescribed Deaths report
Read the full Prescribed Deaths report
Read the Prescribed Deaths - Executive Summary
Deaths from prescription medications each year exceed deaths from car accidents, opioids and benzodiazepines alone have killed over 20,000 Australians between 2001-2017.
The side effects not included in the CMIs are the ones that kill people. Not telling people these side effects clearly isn’t saving lives, it isn’t going to improve people’s knowledge of the risks, and more importantly, it is against the law.
The risks withheld from Australians in many PBS medications include:
— Addiction
— Overdose
— Coma
— Withdrawal Syndrome
— Suicidal thoughts
— Fatal risks if combined with alcohol
— Abuse
— Death
“These Australian documents are woefully inadequate, they do not give a person the multiple life-threatening risks of these medications. This doesn’t provide them with an understanding of the risks to give informed consent.”
– Dr Craig Allen (US medical expert)
“Many doctors and many psychiatrists – not one talked about side-effects or interactions with other medications.”
– Online forum Beyond Blue (2013)
“Studies undertaken in the community have shown that people with mental illness who receive a collaborative medicines review have between four and seven medication-related problems per person, including problems with adverse drug reactions and drug interactions.”
– Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
“… these are all very dangerous drugs, reading these Australian warnings, I am very disturbed that patients haven’t been warned up front, they haven’t been warned adequately, and they haven’t been warned enough.”
– Dr Lori Calabrese (US psychiatrist and medication expert)
“Medicines are the most common treatment used in health care. Although appropriate use of medicines contributes to substantial improvements in health, medicines can also be associated with harm. Because they are so commonly used, medicines are associated with a higher incidence of errors and adverse events than other healthcare interventions. Some of these events are costly, in terms of morbidity, mortality and resources. Up to 50% are potentially avoidable.”
– Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare
“Patients taking Benzodiazepines and Opioids together have a 15 fold increase in risk of death compared to patients taking neither medicine.”
– Babalonis and Walsh, International Association for the Study of Pain
“… some GPs lack knowledge and skills in mental health and require considerably more training in identifying risks, diagnosing conditions, assessing and recognising the physical health consequences of prescribed treatments, and connecting patients with other services (such as online mental health services and allied health services).”
– Productivity Commission report into Mental Health 2019
“…people with mental illness typically live between 10 and 32 years less than the general population.”
– The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP)
About this report
Prescribed Deaths – Life in the Killing Zone offers a detailed, holistic and wide-ranging assessment of the Australian mental health care sector. The report contains honest opinions and critical examinations of the end-to-end treatment experience for those living with severe mental illness. These conclusions are backed by multiple research references from reputable sources.
The research and findings provide an integration of lived experience, detailed investigations, expert opinions, and matters of public health concern.
The author of this report, Patrick O’Connor, has been an advocate for reform in mental illness support services over many years. As a person with lived experience of the issues facing millions of Australians, public interest is at the forefront of the author’s intent.
All statements made in the report are presented as critical examinations of the topic. There is no malice intended and the strength of language used in the report is designed to maximise the education and awareness of critical safety failures, with the goal to warn other Australians.
By investigating government policy and legislation, the report provides a link between systemic healthcare failures and the legal implications of these failures. The author provides these assessments as a complaint to multiple organisations with the responsibility to uphold these legal standards.
The author has no conflicts to disclose at the time of publication. The preparation of the entire report, all travel and associated costs have been funded by the author. No government or third‑party funds or donations have been received nor requested. Further to this, donations post‑release will not be accepted.
The author would also like to strongly note that the report has been produced for no commercial benefit. The report will be made available electronically at no cost. Access will not be limited and will be provided on an ongoing full access commitment. Any costs to obtain the report will only be incurred if hard copy materials are requested through a publication organisation.
Any potential litigation or claims for compensation by people with lived experience against organisations assessed in this report, will have no financial interest to the author or any entity the author is associated with. This is a lived experience report, provided for free for the primary purpose of bringing urgent attention to physical risks that Australians are exposed to every day, without warning.
All interviewees provided their time and opinion at no cost. They neither requested nor were offered any remuneration for their services. Their personal disclosures can be obtained from their organisational websites.
All recorded interviews were undertaken whilst asking questions for the sole purpose of obtaining medication safety information. No information was requested that did not relate directly to the topics examined in this report. Any information that has not been included relates to personal information that does not meet the purpose of the report and would breach the commitment to confidentiality.
Prior to publication of this report, the author has on multiple occasions provided, or attempted to provide, the information in this report to organisations including the National Mental Health Commission (NMHC), Australian Government Department of Treasury, Australian Government Department of Health, Beyond Blue, Orygen/Headspace, and the Black Dog Institute. Feedback has been provided to individual pharmacies around Australia on multiple occasions, with no evidence of changed dispensing practices. The universal lack of any interest in understanding the information provided or offered to these organisations has necessitated the publication of this report. While the author attempted to warn numerous parties in the Australian healthcare system, he failed to obtain any engagement from these parties.
Further reports are in production and are expected to be published after a period of public feedback following release of this report. Any modifications to this report will be included in the document available on the author’s website at www.prescribeddeaths.com.au