Hey, the Old Grey Lady is at it again -- looking at important medical issues from a novel perspective.
The issue? Big Pharma's monetary meddling in medicine, again. This time: Hypertension.
Three pharmaceutical companies donated $700,000 to a medical society that used most of the money on a series of dinner lectures last year to brief doctors on the latest news about high blood pressure.
The same three companies — Merck, Novartis and Sankyo — also gave the money that the medical society used to formulate the main talking point of those briefings, an expanded concept of high blood pressure that many doctors say would increase the number of people taking drugs.
The seven dinners at Ruth's Chris Steak Houses around the country are just one example of why the small medical society, the American Society of Hypertension, has been in the midst of a dispute over the influence of drug industry money.
I love that part --Hah! -- fancy big-ass steak dinners to discuss high blood pressure:) Have you boys heard of the salad bar!
"This is about the monetarization of medicine," Dr. Michael H. Alderman, a past president of the organization, said in a recent interview.
No Sh%t, Sherlock.
The dinners promoting a new definition of high blood pressure illustrate connections — among the pharmaceutical industry, academic physicians and societies that formulate opinion — that can ultimately affect patient treatment. And the dispute within the society reflects a growing unease that industry money is influencing scientific discourse in medical societies and elsewhere.
Umm, a little late to the party. Some of us been yapping about "growing unease" for a while. But better late than never.
At a recent speech before another society, the American College of Cardiology, its new president, Dr. Steven E. Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic, suggested that the medical profession had become addicted to industry money just as the nation was addicted to foreign oil.
Keen grasp of the obvious, Doc. The question is, What are you gonna do about it?
Now you're preaching to the choir Hank. This could be your best post ever, except for the fact there haven't been any prior winners.
Wait until you hit 55 and find out the AMA, AHA, CDC and assorted drug groups says your blood pressure needs medications to lower it to like 80 over 40 to help the drug biz, meanwhile you can jack it up a notch if taking an occasional viagra, that'd be the blue pill in the little box in your trouser pocket.
Personally, I like the cholesterol drugs the best. An old man don't need all those drugs. I figure if my cholesterol is under 1000 and I'm still breathing there must be a 'reason to believe' as Rod Stewart sings.
The latest scam is the up the other end polyp check. This sets you and/or your medical insurance back $ 1000 to $ 2000 US. So I says to the wife. Do you really need this ? You know the answer. Two days on the toilet and a co-payment of $1000.
Well, the pictures were great. No problems found. The bad news is that someone lost the check for $ 1000.00.
See what you have to look forward to Hank. Its great. I have to go now, its time for Larry King and Dr. Gupta.
Posted by: McKiernan | May 20, 2006 at 07:58 PM
"This is about the monetarization of medicine."
Yeah, but it's also about something much deeper, far more sinister. Read the article. It's quite instructive. The Pharmas are paying to change *definitions*, to craft the very axioms upon which all other "knowledge" will be built. They ain't stupid. Like the High Priests of all ages, they understand that if you get to write the dictionary, you can go well beyond determining what thoughts are permitted, you can determine what thoughts are *possible*.
Posted by: Frank | May 20, 2006 at 08:58 PM
McKiernan at Barnesville...
That's as noteworthy as Hank's fine story. Unless this McK is as "real" as Farber and Duesberg!
Posted by: John | May 20, 2006 at 09:18 PM