Bad Drug Day

Filling a prescription at the beginning of the month could be bad for your health. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, analyzed more than 130,000 fatal prescription-drug poisonings and found that they spiked during the first few days of each month–when government assistance checks arrive in the mail. Part of the blame, say the study’s authors, may be the increased workload–and higher error rates–as patients flock to their pharmacies.