deaths after surgery account for up to one in five people who die in hospital each year
http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/shame-private-hospitals-over-deaths-say-surgeons-20120728-232vq.html
Anthem medical policy for ETS surgery
- Presence of medical complications or skin maceration with secondary infection; or
- Significant functional impairment, as documented in the medical record.
Botulinum toxin is considered medically necessary in the treatment of secondary hyperhidrosis when the condition is related to surgical complications and both of the following criteria are met:
- Presence of medical complications or skin maceration with secondary infection; and
- Significant functional impairment, as documented in the medical record.
Treatment of primary axillary or palmar hyperhidrosis with endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy is consideredmedically necessary in the small subset of individuals with hyperhidrosis where both of the following criteria (1 and 2) have been met:
- It has been adequately documented that all efforts at nonsurgical therapy have failed; and
- Either of the following:
- Presence of medical complications or skin maceration with secondary infection; or
- Significant functional impairment, as documented in the medical records;
http://www.anthem.com/medicalpolicies/policies/mp_pw_a050005.htm
surgeons took part in what the school termed "serious and continuing noncompliance"
2 UC Davis surgeons accused of experimenting on dying brain cancer patients | PressDemocrat.com: "surgeons took part in what the school termed "serious and continuing noncompliance""
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
women were persuaded to have hysterectomies - fake claims under a national insurance scheme
As if exploitation of poor Indian women as surrogate mothers and egg donors were not enough, surgeons may have removed the wombs of 7,000 healthy women in Chhattisgarh - a poor and largely rural state in central India -- to enrich themselves by making fake claims under a national insurance scheme. Officials believe that about 2,000 women were persuaded to have hysterectomies in the last six months alone.
It is alleged that doctors frightened poor women from remote areas into having surgery by telling them that they might get cancer without it. Some women even had hysterectomies for back pain. "Panic and fright left us with no option," a 31-year-old woman, who can no longer bear children, told the Hindustan Times.
"It has become a sensitive and serious problem. We are investigating whether these surgeries were being done just for the money or were genuinely needed. The government will take stern action against those found guilty," says state health minister Amar Agrawal.
The state health department plans to take legal action against 22 clinics which apparently did unnecessary surgery and has recommended that nine doctors in the private sector be deregistered. ~ BBC, July 17
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-18873716
the concept of evidence-based medicine was highly contested within Western medicine itself
http://theconversation.edu.au/attack-on-complementary-medicine-undermines-safety-8264
"He was prepared to kill people if it saved his authority from being questioned."
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/sunday-mail/cmc-told-patient-murders-horrifying/story-e6frep2f-1226353778436
"Caesar judging Caesar" - utterly dysfunctional medical boards
In the end, the state's medical board, two-thirds of which are doctors, allowed the doctor to retain his registration to practise with one condition: he stop working in intensive care.
Ms Barber, who revealed a series of concerns to 7.30 in April about malpractice in Queensland hospitals, says it is a case of "Caesar judging Caesar".She says the review of such cases should be handled by a panel of people who are "legally minded", with the assistance of medical administrators.
"It's completely and utterly dysfunctional and if you were to look in the last 10 years, those [doctors] that actually had been struck off or completely gotten rid of as a result of their incompetence would be - you could count them on one hand. Maybe five or six," she said.
The allegations have been referred to Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC).
The CMC has appointed a former Supreme Court judge to examine what it calls a series of allegations and has referred material to the homicide squad.
Former MP Rob Messenger, who was instrumental in revealing the deeds of Dr Jayant Patel, says the case needs to go to a commission of inquiry "right now".
"It needs to go from an assessment stage to a full-blown investigation stage, but that investigation won't be effective unless witnesses are given protection," he said.
"And it's only a commission of inquiry that will be able to give potential witnesses the protection and confidence for them to come forward and tell the truth, tell their story."
The medical board declined 7:30's request for interview, but released a statement saying its role is to protect the public but that it must also be fair, lawful and provide natural justice to practitioners.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-10/doctor-accused-of-ended-patients-lives-prematurely/4122522
Australian researchers played a key role in exposing the illegal marketing of the drug
DRUG company GlaxoSmithKline will pay US authorities $3 billion for fraudulently promoting drugs for diabetes and mental illness, in the largest healthcare fraud settlement in US history.
The drug company admitted it had promoted unproven use of an antidepressant, sold as Aropax here and Paxil overseas, for children, and did not disclose research linking it to suicidal thoughts.
Australian researchers played a key role in exposing the illegal marketing of the drug, revealing significant flaws in a research paper used to promote it.
Aropex ... fraudulently promoted for the treatment of diabetes and mental illness.
The company has also admitted to other such "off-label" marketing, as well as attempting to cover up the increased risk of heart problems linked to its diabetes drug, Avandia.
The head of the department of psychological medicine at the Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital, Jon Jureidini, said it was distressing that even such record fines were a ''necessary cost of doing business''.
He and researcher Anne Tonkin outlined the ''distorted and unbalanced'' interpretation of the results of a study of Aropax use in children, published in the prestigious Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
They argued the research did not show Aropax was safe and effective for depression in young people, and repeatedly asked for the paper to be withdrawn. He later worked with Australian Peter Mansfield and a bioethicist currently working in the US, Leemon McHenry, to expose the selective use of evidence in the paper revealed by internal drug company documents.
As part of the settlement GlaxoSmithKline agreed to the US prosecutor's argument that the study was "false and misleading", and had been prepared by a ghostwriter. Despite this, the journal has not retracted the article.
Professor Jureidini said while there was no evidence the company undertook the same aggressive and illegal promotion of the drug to doctors here as they did in the US, the research likely influenced prescribing.
"Thousands of children and adolescents who should not have been put on antidepressants were put on antidepressants, and we can be reasonably confident that a small but significant number of them will have been badly harmed," he said.
The drug company admitted it had promoted unproven use of an antidepressant, sold as Aropax here and Paxil overseas, for children, and did not disclose research linking it to suicidal thoughts.
Australian researchers played a key role in exposing the illegal marketing of the drug, revealing significant flaws in a research paper used to promote it.
Aropex ... fraudulently promoted for the treatment of diabetes and mental illness. The head of the department of psychological medicine at the Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital, Jon Jureidini, said it was distressing that even such record fines were a ''necessary cost of doing business''.
He and researcher Anne Tonkin outlined the ''distorted and unbalanced'' interpretation of the results of a study of Aropax use in children, published in the prestigious Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
They argued the research did not show Aropax was safe and effective for depression in young people, and repeatedly asked for the paper to be withdrawn. He later worked with Australian Peter Mansfield and a bioethicist currently working in the US, Leemon McHenry, to expose the selective use of evidence in the paper revealed by internal drug company documents.
As part of the settlement GlaxoSmithKline agreed to the US prosecutor's argument that the study was "false and misleading", and had been prepared by a ghostwriter. Despite this, the journal has not retracted the article.
Professor Jureidini said while there was no evidence the company undertook the same aggressive and illegal promotion of the drug to doctors here as they did in the US, the research likely influenced prescribing.
"Thousands of children and adolescents who should not have been put on antidepressants were put on antidepressants, and we can be reasonably confident that a small but significant number of them will have been badly harmed," he said.
Code for pharmaceutical industry ‘falls short’
t Medicines Australia said it had decided against mandating the release of all financial links to individual doctors over concerns about privacy, and because the cost of overseeing such a scheme, similar in effect to the Physician Payment Sunshine Act in the United States, would be prohibitive.
Medicines Australia CEO, Dr Brendan Shaw, said the peak body was “serious about maintaining an ethical industry that adds value to the role doctors play in treating patients and curing disease.”
He said Medicines Australia was mindful that disclosing the names of individual doctors could also trigger witch hunts. Instead, it would assemble a working group of representatives from both industries to consider ways to increase transparency.
Some medical experts said the regulatory body was moving too slowly.
“If we don’t name who we’re paying money to, then we’re not really behaving maturely in this area,” said Jon Jureidini, a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Adelaide who played a crucial role in exposing the illegal behaviour of drug company GlaxoSmithKline in a major case in the US this week. The pharmaceutical group admitted bribing doctors and must pay US authorities $3 billion for fraudulently promoting antidepressant drugs for the treatment of children, without revealing research linking the drug to suicidal thoughts.
“We’ve got to be completely open about what money changes hands down to the dollar,” Professor Jureidini said. “The average fine in Australia is $50,000. That’s not going to hurt a drug company that’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Ian Kerridge, Associate Professor in Bioethics, and Director of the Centre for Values and Ethics and the Law in Medicine at the University of Sydney, said that although the revision “does continue the incremental improvements in transparency and control of the pharmaceutical industry … there is a continued inadequacy of any type of punishment mechanism within the code.
“And the other thing that disturbs me is the continuing failure to provide absolute transparency regarding the amount of sponsorship money or reimbursement given to individual doctors and researchers.
“Without that transparency, any type of reporting is quite meaningless. They’ve given a commitment to look at that issue, but they’ve been looking at it for an awfully long time. It’s just obfuscation, it’s delaying.”
http://theconversation.edu.au/code-for-pharmaceutical-industry-falls-short-8092
Medicines Australia CEO, Dr Brendan Shaw, said the peak body was “serious about maintaining an ethical industry that adds value to the role doctors play in treating patients and curing disease.”
He said Medicines Australia was mindful that disclosing the names of individual doctors could also trigger witch hunts. Instead, it would assemble a working group of representatives from both industries to consider ways to increase transparency.
Some medical experts said the regulatory body was moving too slowly.
“If we don’t name who we’re paying money to, then we’re not really behaving maturely in this area,” said Jon Jureidini, a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Adelaide who played a crucial role in exposing the illegal behaviour of drug company GlaxoSmithKline in a major case in the US this week. The pharmaceutical group admitted bribing doctors and must pay US authorities $3 billion for fraudulently promoting antidepressant drugs for the treatment of children, without revealing research linking the drug to suicidal thoughts.
“We’ve got to be completely open about what money changes hands down to the dollar,” Professor Jureidini said. “The average fine in Australia is $50,000. That’s not going to hurt a drug company that’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Ian Kerridge, Associate Professor in Bioethics, and Director of the Centre for Values and Ethics and the Law in Medicine at the University of Sydney, said that although the revision “does continue the incremental improvements in transparency and control of the pharmaceutical industry … there is a continued inadequacy of any type of punishment mechanism within the code.
“And the other thing that disturbs me is the continuing failure to provide absolute transparency regarding the amount of sponsorship money or reimbursement given to individual doctors and researchers.
“Without that transparency, any type of reporting is quite meaningless. They’ve given a commitment to look at that issue, but they’ve been looking at it for an awfully long time. It’s just obfuscation, it’s delaying.”
http://theconversation.edu.au/code-for-pharmaceutical-industry-falls-short-8092
breaches of state regulations at Royal North Shore Hospital, and serious compliance issues in several other hospitals
The dangerous disposal of hazardous substances including liquid uranium and contaminated objects, the dumping of the confidential records of patients and the mishandling of asbestos have exposed a culture of mismanagement in Sydney hospitals.
A former NSW health contractor turned whistleblower is alleging that a lack of proper procedures and controls has led to breaches of state regulations at Royal North Shore Hospital, and serious compliance issues in several other hospitals.
A former NSW health contractor turned whistleblower is alleging that a lack of proper procedures and controls has led to breaches of state regulations at Royal North Shore Hospital, and serious compliance issues in several other hospitals.
Japanese doctor smashes world record for bogus research
The wonderfully informative blog Retraction Watch points out that 3 anesthesiologists – Fujii, Boldt, and an American, Scott Reuben – account for 13% of all papers retracted since 1970.
All but one of Fujii’s co-authors were unaware of his misconduct. In many cases, he included them as authors without telling them and even forged their signatures. However, the latest news comes 12 years after questions were first raised about the validity of his work.
http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10138#comments
All but one of Fujii’s co-authors were unaware of his misconduct. In many cases, he included them as authors without telling them and even forged their signatures. However, the latest news comes 12 years after questions were first raised about the validity of his work.
http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10138#comments
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