Like most Americans, Ondis Eardensohn didn’t know the U.S. had a prescription drug shortage — until she experienced it firsthand.

On August 8, the retired postmaster drove two hours from her home in Plainfield to New Hampshire’s Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for an infusion of Doxil, one of the only viable treatments for her stage-4 breast cancer.

Eardensohn was waiting for the medicine when her physician walked in. “I’m sorry,” the doctor told her, “but we don’t have enough Doxil to treat you.”... Read more