Though you may not have realized it, there's a good chance that a doctor has prescribed you a medication for a use other than what it was approved for. This off-label use is perfectly legal, but isn't as safe as it might be, in part because incentives to invest in costly clinical trials to test such uses are weak. Efficient use of off-label drugs is the topic of this week's Healthcare Triage. This episode was adapted from a column Austin Frakt wrote for The Upshot. Links to further reading and references can be found there: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/upshot/drugs-fda.html John Green -- Executive Producer Stan Muller -- Director, Producer Aaron Carroll -- Writer Mark Olsen -- Graphics http://www.twitter.com/aaronecarroll http://www.twitter.com/crashcoursestan http://www.twitter.com/johngreen http://www.twitter.com/olsenvideo And the housekeeping: 1) You can support Healthcare Triage on Patreon: http://vid.io/xqXr Every little bit helps make the show better! 2) Check out our Facebook page: http://goo.gl/LnOq5z 3) We still have merchandise available at http://www.hctmerch.com