Over the age of 45, nearly half of us are now on 3 or more drugs every day of the year where as in the 1980 a very few of us were on any drugs at all. However, far from transforming our prospects for the better, these new treatments are compromising our quality of life, increasing health service costs by leading to more hospitalizations, and shortening our lives – all because we are taking too many of them at the same time, writes David Healy.