Some 18,000 people die every year in France as a result of the side effects of certain medications, many of which are due to unjustified prescriptions, a specialist said in court, reports Prensa Latina.
Dr. Berdard Bégaud participated Monday as an expert witness in the trial that is carried in the court of Nanterre against Servier laboratories, manufacturers of the drug Mediator, which is responsible for more than 1,300 deaths in the country.
According to the doctor, many side effects are inevitable when a drug is administered, but the case is more serious when it is not essential to health.
"Medication causes more deaths per year in France than car crashes and suicides combined," he stated.
"France is a country that has always very badly regulated the use of medication," he added.
According to Bégaud, a principle cause of this negligent prescription is that doctors in France are poorly trained in pharmacology, the branch of medicine concerned with drugs.
Mediator, originally designed to fight diabetes, started being prescribed as a slimming aid because it reduces hunger pangs.
Read more of this report from Prensa Latina.