Which term describes conditions making a medication harmful despite its value?

• A. Indication
• B. Contraindications
• C. Hypersensitivity
• D. Idiosyncrasy

Answer: (B)

Contraindications describe conditions or factors that make giving a medication harmful despite its potential benefit. These can be patient-specific, such as pregnancy, a known allergy to the drug, or severe organ dysfunction, or situational, like active bleeding where anticoagulants would worsen the situation. In these cases the risk of harm outweighs the benefit, so the drug should not be used. Indication is about why the drug would be helpful in the first place, not safety. Hypersensitivity is a specific immune-driven reaction to a drug in a given patient, which can make it unsafe for that person but is a particular type of adverse reaction rather than the general rule that defines when not to use a drug. Idiosyncrasy refers to an unusual, unpredictable individual response.