When a patient has any one of a number of infections, his physician may write on a prescription blank: "Tetracycline, 250 mg. #16. Sig. 1 caps, q.i.d." That dosage of 250 milligrams is standard for any adolescent or adult, whether a 100-lb. girl or a 300-lb. man. Equally standard is the one capsule four times a day for about four days.
Such stereotyped prescribing is extremely unsound, says Pharmacologist Sumner Kalman of Stanford University. "There is no average man who always needs a particular dose of this or that drug on a certain...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
