"Black box" warnings often overlooked

A new study finds that many doctors routinely overlook "black box" warnings on the labels of prescription drugs. Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance looked at the health records of about 300,000 patients and found that about 33,000 were prescribed drugs, despite the recommendation that they not do so. The "black box" is the FDA's most strongly worded warning and is used to indicate that a drug may have been linked to certain health risks or that it may be dangerous for patients with certain conditions. The study appears today in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

- read this Wall Street Journal article for more (sub. req.)