Drug shortages in emergency rooms rising

Imagine rushing a loved one to the emergency room, only to find treatment is impossible because a needed drug is out of stock. From 2008 to 2014, the number of drug shortages in US emergency departments spiked by 435 percent, from 23 reported shortages to 123, according to a recent analysis. The majority of the unavailable drugs are used for direct, life-saving interventions. For some, no substitute was available. Those are the findings of a December study in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine. The effect of those shortages on patient health has not been assessed.