I apologize once again for the delay on trip reports. Unexpectedly, I am in Jackson, MS, after receiving a call that my father is dying from acute liver failure.

I never thought it would be Tylenol that brought about my father’s demise. The past three days I’ve been holding the hand of a man who will die from acute liver failure– due to Tylenol. We always suspected it would be the lifetime of drinking–not an over-the-counter pain reliever.

Of course, the man has a case history of liver disease, something that was unknown to me, but it was not something that was going to kill him, because he has ceased heavy drinking for 4 years now. He has relapsed just a few times, supposedly only for a day or two at a time.

However, the presence of liver disease or the consumption of alcohol require that you limit your Tylenol intake to half of the suggested dose.

Now, the suggested dose is in question. The hospital doctors have said told us it is 6-8 grams a day. Tylenol’s website indicates that it is 4grams, as does a bottle. That means 8 pills. My father was taking 10 grams a day, 20 pills, in addition to some ibuprofen. He is in pain from a lot of other physical complications.

Point blank, acetaminophen is dangerous. I’ve been researching it for days. Lobbyists are also dangerous. Lobbyists interfere with petitions that demand bottles containing acetaminophen use specific language to indicate the health threat. Sure, millions of people use the stuff without harm, but thousands annually are developing liver disease from acetaminophen.

“Each year, overdoses of acetaminophen (sold as Tylenol and other brands) account for more than 56,000 emergency room visits and an estimated 458 deaths from acute liver failure, reports the March issue of the Harvard Women’s Health Watch. And according to a new study from the U.S. Acute Liver Failure Study Group, acetaminophen-related liver failure appears to be on the rise

Contributing to the increase were people who were unintentionally taking two or more medications containing acetaminophen. For instance, it is found in headache/pain reliever, but also in sinus and allergy medication.”

Warnings on the generic and name brand bottles read, “ask your doctor,” or “may cause liver damage.”

Now, I may get hit by a car when I jaywalk. It’s not definite. It is proven to be definite that you will develop liver disease from Tylenol when you take more than the recommended amount, especially if you drink a lot of alcohol. Even just socially! This means the warnings should be more direct. Now, tobacco doesn’t kill every user, but enough correlation between tobacco and lung cancer, low fetal birthweight, premature births, and mouth cancer has landed a warning on every pack.

CAUTION: Acetaminophen does cause liver damage if abused.

Do not take more than 4 grams a day, studies show a direct correlation between overdose and liver failure.

Even little non pharmaceutical me can propose the necessary strong language. However, many doctors, scientists, and editoralists were way ahead of me.

“….suggested that a strategy restricting but not banning over-the-counter sales of acetaminophen containing medications may be necessary to prevent accidental overdoses.

This approach was taken in the United Kingdom in 1998, when over-the-counter sales of acetaminophen were restricted to 16 g,” he wrote. “In the four years following the change in legislation there was a 30% reduction in patients with severe acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure admitted to specialist liver units and liver transplant centers.

In France, where only half that much acetaminophen can be bought at one time “this measure is highly effective in minimizing severe acetaminophen hepatotoxicity,” Dr. O’Grady added.”

I suppose it’s one thing when you hear it in the news, and another when you’re feeding mashed potatoes to your jaundiced father and asking if he wants to hold an early birthday party, because he won’t be alive in one month–or even two weeks for the next one.

I guess you could say alcoholism did kill him, because his case history is preventing him from being a candidate for liver transplant. In a discussion yesterday, I asked the doctor if he would be placed at the top of the list for a transplant, based on need. He said yes, IF he qualified, but he doesn’t. He directly said, “a liver is a valuable thing and your father has indicated that his first one was of no value, therefore he doesn’t qualify for a second.”

Well, I’m sure Ted Kennedy could get one if he wanted, even though the doctor has a point. I’m torn though, because it is a free market, right? At what point does the health care industry, proven not to understand addiction, get the final word on whether or not my father truly did recover and is therefore entitled to a new liver?

Either way, I won’t be washing this headache down with Tylenol……