August 9, 2017
The Sydney Morning Herald – Old medicine: The dangerous mistake 60 per cent of Australians are making
Bladder infections are not an uncommon occurrence for Kathleen.
Rather than go to her doctor or bother her family, the 79-year-old decided to take matters into her own hands. She rifled through her medicine cabinet and took old antibiotics from a previous infection.
Keeping old medicine increases the risk of taking the wrong or ineffective medicine. Photo: Stocksy
Her grand-daughter, Sienna, received a phone call from Kathleen a couple of weeks ago after her condition deteriorated.
“She thought something was really wrong so she called me,” recalls Sienna, who drove Kathleen straight to the hospital. “Her prognosis got worse and it was because she took out-of-date medicine.”
About 60 per cent of Australians have old or unwanted medicines, according to a report by Griffith University. Despite the fact that nearly 40 per cent of the medicines were expired, the primary reason people kept them was in case they needed to use them again.