Here is an interesting article from PsychCentral:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/07...ent/41345.html

I try to urge people to read the information sheets that come with prescriptions as well as labels. I think they're often ignored because they're overly long with boilerplate (I don't know any solution for this), difficult to read (both font size and wording), and in some cases, poorly organized. They tend to get tossed/put someplace for later digestion, then forgotten about.

The article cites people over 50 with not noticing the warnings. I wonder if, at least in some cases, it's not that they don't notice, but ignore them. I've pointed out warnings to elderly relatives, and their response has been, "Oh they put those on all prescriptions; they don't really mean anything." I don't know that changing the format would change that behavior.

Our pharmacies have always been pretty good about their warnings. They used to apply separate stickers as necessary, but now they're computerized (boilerplate) so they're printed directly on the pertinent labels as generated/printed.

I don't know that there's anything more/different they could do in this case.

Doc

It is a huge problem. People don't even READ to see if their name is on the bottle, never mind the special warning labels. And heaven forbid, if a clerk gives out the wrong bag to the wrong person, sometimes those people take the medications and never look at the labels or the name on them. It was pretty common in the old days, but today with double scanning is less likely. But I've seen it happen even now unfortunately.

Over the past 40 yrs I've had people call me up after taking their pet's prescription! "What is going to happen to me? I took my dog's Dilantin" etc...

At least my Vet has blue bottles, with a white cap that has a CAT printed on it. I wonder if people ignore that today?

One has to wonder about how these types even cook their food safely, etc. But that is just the way it is. Also they may be driving in that car next to you down the road, so keep that in mind too!
Defensive driving is a rule in our house!

With the few prescriptions I've ever had to take, I have always read the label and the warnings and have followed the instructions to a T. But then I am always researching everything pertinent or not anyway. I do know lots of people do not bother and don't even take the medicine as they should.

Yes, and some studies show that up to 30% of patients may not even get the RX FILLED at all!

http://www.epill.com/statistics.html