The Medical Accountability Network is pleased to announce the successful passage of a law that requires drug and device makers to disclose their gifts to physicians. The Medical Accountability Network, LLC is the consumer-oriented group of medical professionals that bring you SmartMEDinfo.com. We joined Pew Charitable Trusts in lobbying efforts for the past two years to enlighten elected representatives on the need for full disclosure in the medical industry. This has included letter writing and petitions by our physicians and pharmacists, all of whom see the effects of undue influence on doctors prescribing habits.

Under the new Federal law, “Physician Payment Sunshine Act”, doctors who accept fees, meals, gifts and other freebies from the makers of regulated medical products will now have their names posted on an internet site. Other covered “gifts” that strongly influence doctors recommendations include travel expenses and accommodations at medical conferences, stock options and consulting fees.

There is nothing illegal about the gifts from the drug industry. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 90% of physicians accept gifts from the regulated drug and device industry. Patients simply have a right to know who is influencing their doctor’s recommendations. While this new law may simply drive the advertising units to use nurse practitioners as spokespeople instead, it is a step in the right direction for the smart health consumer.

Reference

Steinbrook, Robert, M.D. Disclosure of Industry Payments to Physicians, New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 359:559-561, August 7, 2008, Number 6.

Weintraub, Arlene, New Health Law Will Require Industry To Disclose Payments To Physicians, Kaiser Health News, April 26.2010, available at http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2010/April/26/physician-payment-disclosures.aspx, last accessed 4/30/10.

Ready for a bit of refreshing good news?

1) Worldwide drop in mothers’ death rate

For the first time in decades, researchers are reporting a significant drop worldwide in the number of women dying each year from pregnancy and childbirth, to about 342,900 in 2008 from 526,300 in 1980. This was not due to high technology or doctor care. It appears that mothers are surviving pregnancy and childbirth better because of prenatal education, adequate nutrition, improved sanitation and hygiene and better access to midwives.

2) Heart healthy diet also prevents dementia

A diet rich in omega -3 oils from fish dishes, eaten with plenty of fruits and vegetables has been well established to protect against heart disease. But now researches have documented that this heart-healthy diet also protects against Alzheimer’s dementia. People who ate a modified Mediterranean diet with frequent fish meals and low sugar fruits and green veggies had a 38% less risk of Alzheimer’s than people on the typical American diet of sugary foods, refined wheat, white rice, meats and fast foods. So eat well for your heart and your memory!

3) Dark chocolate may be good for your liver

Dark chocolate appears to be good for patients with advanced liver disease. Cocoa contains antioxidants called flavonols. They relax the blood vessels causing them to widen, reducing the high vessel pressures that lead to bleeding in liver patients. This latest research adds to chocolate’s long list of health benefits, including protecting the heart and stimulating the feel-good hormones endorphins.

4) Stroke, heart attack and lung cancer are less deadly than before.

Stroke deaths, heart disease deaths steadily declining. Stroke death rates have continued to decline, dropping 25.6% in ten years. Death from ischemic (poor circulation) heart disease has dropped nearly 32%, however it remains the leading cause of death in the US. Even lung cancer death rates have dropped by 9.2%. (Now if only taxes could go in the same direction!)

Ref: Grady, D, Maternal Deaths Decline Sharply Across the Globe, NY Times, , April 13, 2010

Ref: Yian Gu, PhD; Jeri W. Nieves, PhD; Yaakov Stern, PhD; Jose A. Luchsinger, MD, MPH; Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD, MS. Food Combination and Alzheimer Disease Risk, A Protective Diet, Arch Neurol. 2010;67(6).

Ref: Hirschler, B., Chocolate may be good medicine for liver patients, Reuters, Apr 15, 2010, available athttp://af.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idAFTRE63E3SR20100415, last accessed 4/15/10.

Ref:  Towfighi, A., Stroke Declines From the Second to the Third Leading Organ- and Disease-Specific Cause of Death in the United States, Stroke. 2010;41:499-503.

In this high speed world of new products and services, it is particularly important to stay informed on your medical care. In fact, it is one of the major ways to make sure you’re going to get the best health care.  Having all the information and being truly informed before making decisions about your care is called informed consent.

If you truly know and understand your condition, the offered treatment and all the benefits, risks, warnings, side effects (common and uncommon) as well as your doctor’s own possible misinformation and conflicts of interest, you will make an informed decision. Sadly, despite being required by medical codes, state, federal and international laws, true informed consent is almost non-existent is today’s health care industry.

In recent years we have seen the highest number of recalls on FDA approved drugs, perpetual lawsuits against drug makers for covering harmful data, and “medication side effects” have reached the top 10 list of most common causes of death. The need for full informed consent has never been greater.  A perfect example of this is the recent explosion in the prescription and use of psychiatric medications and the suicide/homicide risk of every drug in this category.

There is a lot to know about what medications you’re taking and what effect they have on both body and mind. Often the limited information received from doctors and patient advocate groups is easy to find but not nearly complete. Worse, sometimes it is deliberately misleading.

SmartMEDinfo was developed to bridge the gap between incomplete patient briefings and confusing academic literature. Find what you need to make the most out of you and your family’s medical care.

The doctors and pharmacists who contribute to SmartMEDinfo are free of conflicts of interest and have the patient’s best well fare in mind. What sets them apart from others in their field is the uncompromising commitment to giving the patient all the information, in a way he can understand. Only in this way can we have truly educated and empowered patients.

Sign up for SmartMEDinfo today. We have special low yearly rates for large groups and practices.

On Friday the major pharmaceutical company Johnson &Johnson came under fire from the Department of Justice for a scheme to illegally promote the use of their drugs in nursing homes.

In a formal complaint, the Dept of Justice alleges that J&J paid kickbacks to a major drug supplier of nursing homes ensuring at least one of their drugs would be heavily pushed. The company is OmniCare and the drug Risperdal, an anti-schizophrenic.

“Kickbacks such as those alleged here distort the judgments of health care professionals and put profits ahead of sound medical treatment, “Tony West, assistant Attorney General.
OmniCare is alleged to have to have received tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks from J&J for having their representatives particularly recommend the drug. J&J knew that the nursing home staff listened to the Omnicare representative’s recommendations around 80% of time which would obviously increase profits.

The complaint alleges that this illegal campaign resulted in sales of J&J drugs via OmniCare to nursing homes skyrocketing from $100 million dollars to $280 million dollars.

It has sadly become standard practice in nursing homes around the country to take the “easy” way out and drug patients with heavy mind numbing medications like Risperdal. This puts the elderly patients into zombie-like stupors and greatly lowers their health and well being. Risperdal and other drugs in this class carry an FDA-mandated warning describing significantly increased death rates when prescribed inappropriately to the elderly. This dire warning is typically ignored in favor of convenient drug-induced restraint.

Chemical restraint is a sordid practice of using prescription drugs for difficult behaviors, which has become commonplace in institutions from nursery schools to nursing homes. This is the same company named in a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of Texas, which alleges that the company unduly influenced children’s’ medication protocols. Why would they push dangerous chemical restraint of our most vulnerable populations on such a large scale if Johnson&Johnson actually cared about the patients?

An article was just released in the New England Journal of Medicine outlining some very interesting statistics about American health.

The study was recently released using data collected in 2006. It is not new that America is behind many other countries in terms of individual health and longevity. In fact, our health care system is ranked 37^th in the world. What you might not have known is that we are ranked number 1 is spending; America spends more health care dollars per person that any other nation.

More facts:

-U.S. is ranked 39^th for infant lifespan,

-43^nd for female lifespan,

-42^nd for male lifespan.

We spend the most money but are not even near the top on healthiest countries. We’re certainly not living as long as in many other modern countries. Why is this? The latest technology and patented drugs are all over TV screens and magazine pages. These newer treatments are the most costly and it is these that are pushed on the American consumer and physician alike.

Advances in medicine are always important, but when a new procedure without a proven safety record rushes onto the scene and is marketed are the miracle cure people tend to demand it. Sometimes there are disastrous consequences. Many examples of this exist including FenPhen, Vioxx and inappropriate use of drug coated stents.

In order to survive in today’s high tech world you’ve got to have all the information. Whether you’re buying a new TV or trying to decide on taking a new medication, unless you have all the facts you’re not going to know what you’re getting into.

Use SmartMEDinfo as a resource to make sure you fully understand the treatment options offered to you. The drug or procedure may be new and expensive, but will it actually benefit you?

References:

http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=2610&query=TOC

There was recently a list put out of medications to avoid in the elderly. It was published by the Archives of Internal Medicine, a medical journal.

It is remarkable in that it lists only generic drugs. This means that all of the drugs on the list were once brand name, and now their patents have expired. The list includes drugs that each are associated with increased illness, injury or death in older people.

Does this mean that generic drugs are the only ones to avoid? Certainly not. Just because a drug is new doesn’t mean that it is safe. Often much less is known about new drugs and even more caution should be exercised when using them.

Journals such as the Archives for Internal Medicine get much of their funding from the sponsored advertisements of pharmaceutical companies. They see it as bad for business to talk poorly about the very drugs they are being paid to advertise. This may be acceptable in other industries, but in medicine we are dealing directly with people’s lives and health.

SmartMEDinfo has taken this list and expanded it by adding the brand name drugs to watch out for in addition to the generics. (The list can be accessed by logging in or signing up and navigating to the LowDown section.)

We hope you find it of use.

Just a few days ago, the former director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was named as the new president for Merck & Co’s vaccine division. Merck is one of the mega manufacturers in the “Big Pharma” group of companies. They make many vaccines including MMR, flu, HPV and others. It is the responsibility of the CDC to make official recommendations to the American people regarding the use of these very vaccines.

Julie Gerberding, MD has been head of the CDC for the past 7 years. She will be stepping up to take her new job at Merck on January 25^th 2010.

This event has raised some red flags and more than a few eyebrows. However, it is just the latest in the obvious and crooked fondness between the CDC and drug manufacturers. In 2007 the CDC had a “moral lapse” by failing to resolve the conflicts of interest of many of the panel members who evaluated that year’s vaccines for flu and cervical cancer. Some of these people were legally forbidden from serving on such a board but did so anyway.

Earlier this year, the CDC was one of the organizations that called for “urgent action” to stop the supposed Swine Flu pandemic. This was despite the knowledge that H1N1 was no more deadly than the regular seasonal flu and did not justify the massive distribution and promotion of untested vaccines. So it seems to make sense to one of the companies that stood to profit that Mrs. Gerberding be given the helm of their $12 billion dollar a year vaccine division.

After you get over your initial feeling that there is more here than meets the eye, the event brings one question to mind. Just how deep do the ties between government health agency and Big Pharma go?

Conflict of interest in the medical industry is why the unbiased medical information provided by SmartMEDinfo is an absolute necessity. It is hard to know who to trust when there is any other motivation but protecting and helping the consumer. That’s why our doctors and pharmacists rely on the science and not the sensational and suspect pronouncements of government health agencies. Especially when the conflicts of interest are so rampant.

SmartMEDinfo.com was recently granted accreditation by the Health On The Net Foundation.

As stated on their website:

“Created in 1995, HON is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, accredited to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. For twelve years, HON has focused on the essential question of the provision of health information to citizens, information that respects ethical standards…

…HONcode is the oldest and the most used ethical and trustworthy code for medical and health related information available on [the] Internet.”

One of the many requirements of a HON certification is to disclose to users conflicts of interest and source of funding. We have no conflict of interest and are entirely funded by our subscribers, like you. We are proud to be part of the HON group of sites.

Look for the HON symbol to appear throughout the site soon. Happy Holidays and we look forward to seeing you back to get the most trustworthy medical information on the web.

Best,

Dr. Moira Dolan

Hello and Merry Christmas!

You may have noticed some changes to the SmartMEDinfo website. We have been steadily improving the features and ease of use of the site to make sure you can access the information you need.

We are committed to giving our users the most clear, understandable medical information. With all the problems and controversy surrounding health care these days, there is one thing we feel has been overlooked. That is, with the skyrocketing health care costs and the apparent lack of enough resources to help the sick, the reality is that as a country we are not as sick as we are led to believe.

There is quite a lot of hype surrounding the health care industry. However, keep in mind it is an industry. Information you are given on TV, in magazines and the things “everybody knows” may not be entirely true and may not have your best interests in mind.

You can be healthy. You can make good decisions about your health. SmartMEDinfo is not here to give you medical advice. We CAN give you the truth about your drug or condition. Once you have all the trustworthy information the right choices for you will become clear.

Let’s change the way you look at your health.

Happy Holidays!