November 21st, 2009 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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In yet another article addressing the war on cancer, The New York Times today tackles cancer prevention, focusing on alternative and mainstream Pharma products marketed to reduce the risk for cancer.
While author Gina Kolata seems to have done her homework when it comes to the failure of alternative medicine to prevent cancer, she has missed the story completely when it comes to telling why the medical profession and patients may have failed to embrace Big Pharma’s push to use their drugs to prevent breast and prostate cancer. Of course, that’s not surprising since almost exclusively, the experts she interviewed were those who conducted the clinical trials of these drugs. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*
November 11th, 2009 by Harriet Hall, M.D. in Better Health Network, Book Reviews, Quackery Exposed
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That’s the title of a new book by Melvin H. Kirschner, M.D. When I first saw the title, I expected a polemic against conventional medicine. The first line of the Preface reassured me: “Everything we do has a risk-benefit ratio.” Dr. Kirschner took the title from his first pharmacology lecture in medical school. The professor said “I am here to teach you how to poison people.” After a pause, he added, “without killing them, of course.”
He meant that any medicine that has effects has side effects, that the poison is in the dose, and that we must weigh the benefits of any treatment against the risks. Dr. Kirschner has no beef with scientific medicine. He does have a lot of other beefs, mainly with the health insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and alternative medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
October 20th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News
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It came in the mail to one of my partner’s patients, a direct mailing (4 pgs, pdf, 1.2M) promising cheap drugs at significant cost savings from Global Pharmacy Canada. A closer look at the flier, however, discloses the drugs are not from Canada, but rather pharmacies somewhere in India.
Call it global direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. All you have to do is sign a little waiver and send your money: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
October 18th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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If you read nothing else this morning, please read Margaret Polaneczky, MD’s (aka “TBTAM”) excellent post that vividly summarizes our current health care reform efforts underway while offering insights as to what real reform should look like:
Real reform won’t happen until the American people take their seat at the head of the table and invite doctors, ethicists and healthcare experts (not industry lobbyists) to bring their best knowledge about what interventions are most important, most effective and most cost efficient. Then we can sort out our priorities (you can call it rationing if you want) and create a budget.
Only then we can begin to negotiate with third parties (insurers, Big Pharma, etc) to sell us what we need at the best price. That’s called competition, and it’s what American capitalism is all about, right?
The problem is, the American healthcare consumer (and I include myself here) still thinks someone else is footing the bill. Who that someone is, I don’t know. Maybe the rich. Maybe our employers. Maybe the Federal Government.
What we have yet to get is that there is no “someone else”. The deep pockets are our own pockets, and they are empty. Our tax dollars. Our pensions. Our companies going bankrupt from paying employee health care costs.
Until the American people get it that it is our responsibility to get our spending in line, and until our representatives have the guts to turn away the industry lobbyists and represent their constituents instead of their campaign bankrollers, we will continue to have uncontrolled health care spending.
… and that’s just part of it. Read the whole thing.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
