Hospitals are running out of drugs used in everything from cancer to surgery, anesthesia and intravenous feeding, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
So far this year, 180 drugs have been in short supply. Virtually all U.S. hospitals say they've been affected, and 82% say the problem has delayed care for patients, says the American Hospital Association.
Although drugmakers say they're doing everything they can to relieve the shortages, some health care experts say they see no end in sight.
"It's a crisis situation," says Joseph Hill of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
The shortage delayed McBride's third treatment by nearly two weeks. She doesn't know how that will affect her chance of cure. In general, patients with this kind of cancer have a 30% chance of survival, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society says. "When you are diagnosed with an acute leukemia, you need to be treated now," says McBride, a nurse who has been unable to work since January. "If you are not treated, you can die within weeks."
She says she feels lucky she was able to find a supply of the drug, cytarabine, in Salt Lake City. She and her husband had to drive 4½ hours each way — and pay for him to stay in a hotel during her week-long hospitalization. After one treatment in Utah, she was able to return to Idaho and complete her full course of therapy, which ended last month.
Although McBride is now in remission, she worries that other patients may not be so lucky.
Drug shortages are also driving up prices, forcing hospitals to spend 10 times the usual amount, says Allen Vaida, executive vice president at the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
Michael Link, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, specializes in treating children with cancer. The prospect of being unable to get the drugs they need to survive, he says, is "heartbreaking and unconscionable."
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