Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Today's soundtrack: Tom Waits "Little Drop of Poison" ::
The stupid people are at it again. I swear, it irks me to no end the hoop jumping and bending over backwards the rest of us have to do because the stupid people can't stop themselves or be held accountable when doing something, well, STUPID.
I believe I have mentioned before how I can't abide by frivolous lawsuits like people suing others because of hot coffee and such. Currently in the USA there is a massive voluntary recall going for infant cold medicine. All of the Tylenol Infant drops and PediaCare Decongestants and Toddler's Dimetapp and the like are being pulled from the market because it SEEMS that if you OVERDOSE your infant on them they could incur.... GASP... adverse reactions! Um, duh. If I remember correctly if you overdose on ANY medication anyone, even an adult, could suffer an adverse reaction.
Well, the information I've come across says that between 2004-05 somewhere around 1,500 children had to go to the infirmary after consuming these cold medications and three children even died. Okay, yes, very sad and unfortunate that three children died, however, is it the manufacturing company's fault that these children had parents who could not read dosing information? There are many different infant cold drops out there and I can see how it can get confusing where you give so much of one kind and less of another and maybe you got it wrong, but that's why each container has the dose printed right on it!! Also, if you're uncomfortable or unconfident in dosing your children you could contact a professional (re: doctor or pharmacist) or just plain NOT give any at all! "Oops, it looks as though I've ODed Little Johnny. I do believe that the Pediacare company to blame!!" Seriously?
The infant cold remedies are being pulled off the shelves and pediatricians are instructed to give parents advice along the lines of "increase fluids" and "get plenty of rest". Look, you have a couple of parents with a miserable, screaming baby. The baby has snot dribbling out its nose, a high fever, and coughs relentlessly. This is an eighteen month old child who is NOT going to go to sleep so easily while this uncomfortable. The parents want their child to be able to deal with the symptoms while the cold runs its 2 to 5 day course, but a baby has no idea what's going on or why it feels so bad and won't stop crying. There are no infant drops at the drugstore. What do YOU think is going to happen? I foresee either 1) Dad buys regular, adult cold medicine and tries to figure out a dose on his own (which is far more horrifying than misdosing on infant drops) or 2) Mom runs junior to the doctor for prescription antibiotics every time he has the sniffles (which will cause viruses to become antibiotic resistant). Personally, I find both of these scenarios disturbing and it's all the stupids' fault.
It just makes me so infuriated that some people are so dumb that they put their own child's life at risk and then jump to blame the drug companies. The drug companies then seek to protect their collective ass and pull useful, needed medication off the shelves where competent people will now be left in the lurch. This is why Sudafed is now restricted, because of the stupids. This is why Quinine is no longer available for leg cramps, leaving many senior citizens with no relief at nights. What is it going to take for you stupid people to quit suing everyone for something that was your own mistake and own up? If you hand your child a loaded handgun and he winds up shooting himself, that would be YOUR fault and NOT the handgun manufacturer's, so please just stop the madness so the rest of us can carry on responsibly treating our own children while we still have the effective medication to do so.
William (prescription only)
