Is Your Doctor Getting Cash Payouts from Big Pharma?

Are doctors prescribing pharmaceuticals for their patients' benefit or for their own financial benefit? It may be the latter, says Mark Sisson.

... A public interest group, ProPublica, in partnership with Consumer Reports and National Public Radio have compiled and released a series of reports assessing the pharmaceutical companies’ payouts to doctors and the public’s discomfort with their physicians’ industry ties.

Although the industry’s financial dealings are still private material, lawsuits aimed at Pharma’s marketing have required many of the larger companies to disclose much of their payout information. Although the details are scattered in public websites and documents, ProPublica compiled the information from these various resources. The result? A list of 17,000 doctors and $257 million dollars in payout. Additionally, the organization found that hundreds of physicians on the Pharma payroll lacked board certifications in their claimed fields or had been sanctioned by state medical boards for unprofessional (and in some cases heinous) behavior. Read more

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Posted in: Big Pharma,medical malpractice,pharmaceutical companies,pharmaceuticals

10 Tips on Surviving a Trip to the Hospital

Hospitals are dangerous. Michael Miles gives ten tips for surviving a trip to the hospital.

... Given the scope of this subject, I will focus primarily on food. If food is important to you (and if you are reading this blog it most likely is very important), you must have an advanced strategy in place should the day come you have to make the trek. Below are ten ways to protect yourself before a hospital visit.

10 Tips On Surviving A Hospital Stay


1. Have a like-minded friend present at all times.

This is extremely important if you make an emergency trip to the hospital and don't have control of all your cognitive faculties. You will need an ideological nutritional soul mate running interference to make sure your best interest – not the doctor or the hospital – is always first and foremost.

Ideally this would be your wife, husband, significant other, or your family, but I know many of my readers are lone warriors in their quest for health, and may need to seek out a friend to help them. Problem is, while family can often get their way with hospital staff if they know what to do and are obstinate enough, a non-relative will find the going extremely difficult. So this is something you will need to work out beforehand in detail.

My suggestion: your non-relative immediately becomes your relative in the event of a hospital stay. A cousin, an uncle, even a fiancé can work. Whatever you do never let on otherwise, or your friend will have no impact in the nutritional ideological sterility that characterizes most hospital environments. Read more

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Posted in: hospital dangers,medical malpractice

8 Reasons to Stay out of the Hospital

Dr. Joseph Mercola cites 8 reasons why hospitals are more dangerous than ever.

Mainstreet.com offers a few essential facts about hospitals that you should know before you check in:

Stay Healthy in July

July is the most dangerous month to visit a hospital. That's the month when students graduate from medical school and start doing residencies at teaching hospitals. Deaths due to hospital medication errors spike by 10 percent in July.

Hospital Wait Times

Hospitals have terrible wait times, which may actually be endangering patients. Patients who need to be seen within 14 minutes of arriving ended up having to wait more than twice as long. Read more

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Posted in: hospital dangers,medical malpractice

Medicines and Treatments That Patients Don't Need

Unnecessary testing, unwarranted treatment, excessive prescriptions are some of the ways that medical practice in the US is ruining our lives, says Dr.Joseph Mercola.

A journal published by the American Medical Association is taking a hard look at the perils of extra tests and treatments. Too many tests can often lead to unnecessary treatments or even hurt the patient.

"Less Is More" will become a feature in the Archives of Internal Medicine. It will examine treatments that expanded to the point where the risks of the treatment outweigh benefits.

According to ABC News:

“Studies in the current issue look at potential risks of proton-pump inhibitors, which were originally designed for gastric reflux but now are used for conditions as mild as heartburn.” Read more

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Posted in: excessive prescriptions,medical malpractice,unnecessary medical treatment