By the time someone has killed themselves by eating grapefruit, it means they've already plunged through two safety barriers:
1) The medical professional that prescribed failed in their duty to inform of interactions (which then begs the question as to whether they also failed to screen for interactions before prescribing).
2) You know, those little bits of magically folded paper that come in every single packet of pills. They're not just there for decoration. And if you can't read, then there's always the Pharmacist (or friends or family).
Its a bit like that stupid warning the Californians put on wine bottles that it may cause issues with pregnancies. Well, that warning is a bit short, because they should have also told you about cirrhosis of the liver, drink driving, the dangers of broken glass, the fact you might stain your carpet ....
I have a chronic ailment and take medication for it. Every single box comes with that strip of paper with important information.
The problem? It's tiny, extremely dry and technical, and is barely readable even by someone who wants to understand it (me).
There's absolutely a need for making more readable pamphlets. Until anybody cares the manufacturers will just put in the bare legal effort, and patients may suffer.
I agree, it would be nice to have boxes of medication come with obvious large prints in style "grapefruit + this medicine = DEATH, tomato juice + this medicine = VOMIT FOR DAYS, YAY".
It seems that the most deadly things should be pointed out in bold and in as simple language as possible. Like in (human friendly) UX design, what is important should look important.
I suspect that the reason they don't want to put it on the boxes is largely because brands don't want medication to look dangerous in any way. The excuse that might be made about is that "pamphlet must be read too, and if we print something on the box people won't read pamphlets", but it does not seem very convincing.
> A warning would reduce the lethality of neglect and forgetfulness.
There's so many warnings and small print already. Just like terms of services and cookie banners on websites, nobody is reading them any more because we have warning fatigue.
"The risks that come with grapefruit juice is much less obvious than the example with broken glass from the wine bottle."
Whoa there. Do you know about how impact to glass can create a crater on the inside of the bottle without shattering? Then you can end up eating or drinking the glass fragments that are in the food/drink. That's something that's not very obvious.
I've known many people who flippantly pop medications without regard for the dosage and interaction warnings. I've even been ridiculed myself for doing so, as if taking 2 minutes to read the label makes me some kind of schmuck or sheeple. I don't really care what other people say, I'm paranoid about everything I put in my body and understand not everyone lives that way, but there are a lot of people that just don't care to think about it.
Sure, but do you think any of the people that doesn't even stop to check if their new prescription medication interacts with the acetaminophen (paracetamol/Tylenol) they take whenever they have a headache is going to be moved by a grapefruit juice generic warning?
By the time someone has killed themselves by eating grapefruit, it means they've already plunged through two safety barriers:
Its a bit like that stupid warning the Californians put on wine bottles that it may cause issues with pregnancies. Well, that warning is a bit short, because they should have also told you about cirrhosis of the liver, drink driving, the dangers of broken glass, the fact you might stain your carpet ....