May 09, 2005
Dr James Hawkins on "Off-label drug use"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR; SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Sunday, May 8, 2005
'Off-label' drug use
Editor -- Regarding your article, "A patient's right to know" (May 1): It is of vital importance that physicians discuss the use of all medications with patients and, if necessary, their relatives. However, the off-label use of medications, questioned in the article, must be allowed to continue.
In this nation, there are growing numbers of elderly patients with various demential illnesses. It is very common for such patients to develop psychosis with delusions or hallucinations, depression, anxiety and/or behavior problems (striking out, kicking, biting, etc.) as complications of degenerative dementia. These psychiatric complications are painful for the patients and often dangerous for those offering care.
At present, there is not one FDA-approved (labeled) medication available for the treatment of these problems. Most often, the only way to treat the distress that patients, families and other caregivers experience from these illnesses is to use a medication off-label. Otherwise, the suffering will continue, others may be harmed and death may very well be hastened.
Physicians must retain the option to use various drugs off-label in order to relieve these kinds of pain and suffering.
JAMES W. HAWKINS, M.D.
Geriatric psychiatrist
San Francisco
Posted by VJ@stanford at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2005
Happy Mother's Day
The Stanford Forum on Aging wishes you all a very happy and peaceful Mother's Day
Posted by VJ@stanford at 06:15 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2005
Free Stanford conference on Aging in Japan
"Faces and Masks of Aging: Implications from the lives of Japanese elderly".
Stanford will host an interdisciplinary conference on the topic of aging and Japan,which will be held at the Humanities Center, May 20-22.
All are welcome!
Posted by VJ@stanford at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
Distance Learning - Mental Health and Diabetes (Webcast Info)
INVITATION TO A NO-COST ETHNOGERIATRIC DL SEMINAR:
Join the Stanford GEC and its partners in a DL seminar by webcast.
"Mental Health Aspects of Diabetes in Elders from Diverse Backgrounds"
Wednesday, May 4, 2005, 2:00-5:00 pm (PST).
Three speakers will present an overview, issues for American Indian Elders and African American Elders, and cultural remedies for treatment.
Participants: Health care and social service professionals, students, and others who care for older ethnic elders with diabetes.
To participate, you will need the latest version of RealPlayer. For a free download go to the site below
http://www.sjsu.edu/atn/delivery/webcasting/
and do the following:
1) Preload latest version of RealPlayer
2) Go to assigned link (see below)
3) View videostream and remember to turn up the audio/speaker
4) Phone in your question during the Q & A at 408-741-2071
Live Links:
http://atn5.sjsu.edu:8080/ramgen/encoder/mhd05040556k.rm
http://atn5.sjsu.edu:8080/ramgen/encoder/mhd050405dsl.rm
Depending on your internet connection use the link with either 56k or DSL at the end. It is preferable to use the Internet Explorer for your web browser, although other browsers would work as well.
The above links will not work now but if you go to either site you should see RealPlayer start up and then a dialogue box stating "Requested file not found." If you don't see the RealPlayer on your screen you need to update or download the free RealPlayer.
The Live Links are valid only during the seminar that is on Wednesday, May 05, 2005 from 2:00PM to 5:00PM (it starts at 1:55 p.m).
For questions, please contact San Lu, SGEC Program Manager at santlu@stanford.edu or 650-494-3528.
The seminar will be archived immediately from 5:01 pm (PST), May 5, 2005 to June 30, 2005. and can be accessed at the URLs below.
Archived Links:
http://atn5.sjsu.edu:8080/ramgen/mediacontent/mhd05040556k.rm
atn5.sjsu.edu:8080/ramgen/mediacontent/mhd050405dsl.rm
~San
Posted by at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)
