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Health Journalism Gems You Shouldn’t Miss

June 2nd, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
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A couple of health journalism gems you shouldn’t miss just because they were published over the holiday weekend:

Natasha Singer of the New York Times had an important piece, “When Patients Meet Online, Are There Side Effects?,” about privacy concerns when social networking sites like CureTogether.com and PatientsLikeMe.com offer online communities for patients and collect members’ health data for research purposes.

John Fauber of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel published another in his “Side Effects” series on conflicts of interest in healthcare. This one was about doctors vouching for the drug Multaq for treating atrial fibrillation without ever having seen all of the data.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune began a “Too Much Medicine” series. Health editor Dave Hage informs that they’ve been working on this project for nearly a year with plans for a few more installments in coming months, each covering different ailments and procedures that are over-used or under-proven. (Unfortunately, I think the series is only available in the print editions.)

*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*

Practice Medicine Or “Advise” For $3,000 A Day?

March 31st, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Opinion, Primary Care Wednesdays, True Stories
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It’s very generous of Sanolfi-Aventis’s marketing department to make this offer for me to serve as an “advisor” for dronedarone (Multaq), but seriously–I was a bit skeptical that they wanted my “feedback on the reasons for and against utlilization of Multaq® in the appropriate patient as well as to understand communication and educational needs with regard to Multaq® and the atrial fibrillation state in general.”

Where were they when the drug launched? Might it be because this drug hasn’t quite been the blockbuster they’d hoped for?

But, of course, I’d never be swayed to use more of this drug by such important consulting work. No, really.

P.S. Sanolfi-Aventis marketers: Please update your prescriber database with my correct workplace.

–Musings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.

*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*