How sad for you and your health and medical system, America.
"Doctor quits Brigham to speak for pay; Partners has strict rules on drug-firm honoraria" by Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff | January 23, 2010
Boston physician Lawrence M. DuBuske was given a choice: Either stop moonlighting as a paid speaker for pharmaceutical companies or quit his job at a top Harvard teaching hospital.
To the surprise of some, DuBuske, an allergy and asthma specialist and a Harvard Medical School instructor, will resign from Brigham and Women’s Hospital at the end of the month, the hospital said. DuBuske is no ordinary speaker. Out of thousands of US doctors hired by drug-maker
DuBuske seems to be everywhere, with recent speaking stops spread from Boston to Buenos Aires, Poland, and Russia. Six other pharmaceutical companies also use him as a speaker, and he is a consultant for a half-dozen drug makers, according to information he disclosed while teaching continuing medical education courses. The disclosures did not mention how much he was paid for this work....
’’There are physicians earning so much money [from drug makers] that they would give up their jobs,’’ said Dr. Steven Nissen, head of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. “It’s a shocking story. Normally you’d give up the [pharmaceutical company] honoraria.’’
DuBuske did not return phone calls from the Globe. But his situation shows both the significant amounts of money doctors can make moonlighting for pharmaceutical companies and the potential impact of the growing restrictions on industry ties at teaching hospitals.... In addition to seeing patients at the Brigham, DuBuske, 55, runs a Gardner-based nonprofit organization called the Immunology Research Institute of New England, which sponsors education programs for doctors in Eastern Europe, according to its website.
He speaks Russian, has published dozens of articles, and in 2004 won the Distinguished Fellow Award of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, according to his and the Brigham’s websites. His work for Glaxo came to light last month, when the company posted on its website a list of physicians it paid for consulting and speaking during the second quarter of 2009. Mary Anne Rhyne, US director of media relations for Glaxo, said DuBuske is a national speaker for the company, earning about $2,500 per talk. The company picks the topic and content of the talks in the speakers bureau program, she said. Rhyne said she is not sure whether DuBuske will be as much in demand as a speaker without the prestigious Brigham and Harvard titles....
These conflict-of-interest policies, which usually also prohibit doctors from accepting gifts from drug companies, aim to counter the industry’s influence over the drugs and treatments physicians prescribe. Politicians, regulators, and some physicians are concerned that doctors who give company-sponsored talks may present biased information that could underplay harmful side effects or may encourage use of expensive brand-name medications instead of less costly alternatives.
Yuh think?
But physicians who participate in speakers’ bureaus say they carefully screen the information for accuracy, and some doctors argue that working for numerous companies, as DuBuske does, cancels out bias in favor of any one drugmaker. But Dr. Paul Appelbaum, director of psychiatry, law, and ethics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, said he worries that “someone who takes money from all companies is not in a position to say anything critical about any of their products.’’
Not when THEY are WRITING the WORDS for you!
It is possible to take money from a pharmaceutical company and deliver an unbiased talk, he said, but it is risky because bias can be so subtle....
Yeah, and you SEE IT in the ZIONIST NEWSPAPER every day!
“This may or may not be good for the patient,’’ he said. “It’s difficult for the audience to ascertain if there’s bias, because they’re not the experts. They’re coming to hear someone who knows more than they do.’’
Translation: You CAN'T TRUST the DOCTOR SELLING you those PILLS!
Related: MSM Monitor Going Through Menopause
Thar's Gold in Them There Bones!
Glaxo's Ghostwriters
Healthcare Coup of Congress
The Boston Globe's Ghostwriters
So you CAN'T TRUST a THING you read in the MEDICAL JOURNALS or the NEWSPAPERS, huh?
Which casts a whole different look upon these stories:
"Suit says J&J paid kickbacks; US attorney cites payments to nursing homes" by Linda A. Johnson, Associated Press | January 16, 2010
TRENTON, N.J. - Federal prosecutors said yesterday that health care giant Johnson & Johnson paid tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks so nursing homes would put more patients on its blockbuster schizophrenia medicine and other drugs.
Johnson & Johnson? Could a name be more synonymous with U.S. health products these last decades or so? Can't even trust J&J now, huh?
In a complaint filed yesterday, prosecutors said J&J paid rebates and other forms of kickbacks to Omnicare Inc., the country’s biggest dispenser of prescription drugs in nursing homes.
Prosecutors allege Omnicare pharmacists then recommended that nursing home patients with signs of Alzheimer’s disease be put on the powerful schizophrenia drug Risperdal, which was later found to increase risk of death in the elderly.
You have to be kidding me. Have to.
The allegations are in a complaint filed by the US attorney in Boston, whose office has joined two whistle-blower cases. One was filed in 2003 by a former Omnicare pharmacist in Chicago, Bernard Lisitza, who alleges he was fired after he challenged the Risperdal kickbacks and other improper practices at the company. The other was filed by former Omnicare financial analyst David Kammerer in 2005, after he resigned from the company. “Kickbacks in the nursing home pharmacy context are particularly nefarious because they can result in excessive prescribing of strong drugs to patients who have little or no control over the medical care they are receiving,’’ US Attorney Carmen Ortiz said in a statement.
See: The Sickest Trial I Ever Saw
Yup, DYING either way!
Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., said in a statement it is reviewing the complaint and “will address the government’s lawsuit in court.’’ “We believe airing the facts will confirm that our conduct, including rebating programs like those the government now challenges, was lawful and appropriate. We look forward to the opportunity to present our evidence in court.’’
Don't you love lying, sack-of-s*** corporations and their double-speak?
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