Critical shortages of lifesaving drugs are threatening hospital care in America, delaying patient treatment and limiting the medicines doctors can prescribe and the anesthetics they can use to perform surgery.

 

  In the past few weeks, several pharmaceutical giants have warned doctors not to start patients on some medicines because they can't guarantee a steady supply, and hospitals have begun rationing some vital drugs. The Food and Drug Administration had reports of 180 drug shortages as of July 31, a number that already surpasses the record 178 shortages reported for all of last year.

 

   The ever-increasing shortages particularly affect older Americans because they undergo more surgeries and cancer treatments, doctors say. They also are more likely to have medical conditions that can make it difficult to find a suitable substitute when the drug they need is unavailable.

 

  Recent surveys by hospital and pharmacist groups tell the troubling story. A national survey by the American Hospital Association in June found that 99.5 percent of hospitals have experienced one or more drug shortages in the last six months. Nearly half of the 820 representative hospitals contacted — 44 percent — reported shortages of more than 21 drugs. Moreover, 63 percent of the hospitals reported that in some cases, patients didn't receive the recommended treatment; 10 percent said that problem occurred frequently.

 

  Because of the shortages, "we've had deaths … we've had medication errors," says Michael Cohen, a pharmacist and president at the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices in Horsham, Pa. As an example, he referred to the case this year in Alabama where 19 patients were seriously infected and nine died because a standard, premixed solution for IV feeding tubes wasn't available, so a pharmacy mixed its own and it was contaminated. Contact for complete article