Tara Parker-Pope recently had an article on how fewer and fewer patients trust their doctors. About one in four patients feel that their physicians sometimes expose them to unnecessary risk, according to data from a Johns Hopkins study published this year in the journal Medicine. And two recent studies show that whether patients trust a….
Continue ReadingMedications
Adults Slack on Vaccinations
Laura Landro, in her column “The Informed Patient,” discusses the problem of adults neglecting to get vaccinated for new illnesses. Not only that, but adults forget or are unaware that some childhood vaccinations lose efficacy after some time and need to be re-done. Skipping pre-travel vaccinations is also a common error. Part of the problem….
Continue Reading11 Deaths Tied to Medical Devices Containing Heparin
Previously, this blog has discussed the contaminated heparin (a blood-thinning medication) found in the U.S. and linked to deaths and injuries. Now the Food and Drug Administration has received reports of deaths tied to medical devices that use heparin, although they are not currently sure whether the heparin in these devices is contaminated. From the….
Continue ReadingDennis Quaid Defends Right To Sue Pharmaceutical Companies for Injuries
After his newborn twins were given near-fatal doses of the blood-thinner heparin, actor Dennis Quaid testified in front of Congress defending consumers’ rights to file suit against pharmaceutical companies. From the article: Beginning with the Bush administration, the Food and Drug Administration has stepped into suits on the side of defendant pharmaceutical companies, arguing that….
Continue ReadingThe Drug Industry and the DSM-IV
Tara Parker-Pope of the NY Times has an article on how more than half of the writers of the DSM-IV–the Diagnostic and Statisical Manual of Mental Disorders–have financial links to the drug industry. The DSM is the most commonly used handbook of psychiatric disorders. Clearly these financial links suggest a conflict of interest. From the….
Continue ReadingPill Reduces Ovarian Cancer Risk
Oral contraceptives significantly reduce risks of ovarian cancer in women, says a new large-scale study. The pill has been linked to reduction in breast cancer rates as well, but not so large as the reduction in ovarian cancer rates. The risk reduction persists up to thirty years after a woman stops taking the pill, although….
Continue ReadingU.S.A. Has the Most Preventable Deaths
Out of nineteen industrialized nations, the U.S. has the most deaths that could have been prevented by access to timely, effective medical care. Ellen Nolte and Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine performed the study, looking at deaths before the age of seventy-five caused by numerous diseases and complications. They….
Continue ReadingStudy Finds Anti-Psychotics Do Not Curb Aggression
Anti-psychotic drugs such as Haldol and Risperdal were developed to treat schizophrenia, but have recently been used for much broader purposes. They have been used to treat aggression in people suffering from everything from attention-deficit disorder to depression to the intellectually handicapped. A new study finds, however, that these drugs are no more effective than….
Continue ReadingHigher Risk of Leukemia Linked to Anemia Drugs
A thirty-year analysis shows that anemia drugs produced by Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson raise the risk of leukemia incidence. The following drugs are implicated in this study: Aranesp and Epogen (by Amgen Inc.), and Procrit (by Johnson & Johnson). In addition, the steroid danazol was linked to higher risk of leukemia.
Continue ReadingElder Abuse: Nursing Homes Often Use Anti-Psychotics to “Maintain Order”
Shockingly, nursing homes having been giving elderly residents anti-psychotic drugs–not to combat actual psychosis, but rather to quiet symptoms of Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia and make the patients more docile and controllable. This overuse of anti-psychotics is so rampant that it accounts for why Medicaid has recently spent more money on anti-psychotics than….
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