Although last weeks post on RxISK portrayed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a Socialist when the times call for something more than this, she does seem to offer a lot more than any other politician, almost anywhere else.
Targeted by the Capitol Hill mob, she has since drawn a compelling analogy between what happened and what happens after sexual abuse. See Here.
“The reason I say this and the reason I’m getting emotional in this moment is because these folks [Republicans] who tell us to move on, that it’s not a big deal, that we should forget what’s happened, or even telling us to apologize, these are the tactics that abusers use.”
There are many ways to define politics. There is a famous framing in terms of the art of the possible. Another framing centres more on an ability to be economical with the truth – not actually lie but definitely mislead.
The one that appeals to me is that politicians learn to ignore the obvious. This is one of the things you learn working with the adverse effects of drugs – politicians, regulators, the media, the great and good, the Guideline makers all manage to ignore it when told pretty well the entire literature about on-patent drugs is ghostwritten and that there is no access to the data from the clinical trials that have been done.
Medical Abuse
This ghostwriting and data sequestration turns doctors and health service staff into Abusers – who tut-tut us if we say our drugs have caused problems. When we are Drug Wrecked, the response is there, there little girl – just get on with it.
The people who don’t ignore the obvious when it involves their children (even 20 or 30 year old children) or parents are women. (They may not respond the same way to a husband – see next week’s post).
Time and again, brushed aside by doctors and lawyers and others, they have found their way to me and to RxISK and when they have presented the details of what happened it has often been pretty obvious that some drug did exactly what they said.
Clinical psychologists, nurses and all sorts of other people who hate doctors run the other way when it comes to being asked could my drug have caused a problem. See Shipwreck – Footprints in the Sand – for more details on how those who preach the horrors of trauma go out of their way to ignore Drug Traumas.
There are few areas of human endeavour where such a blind eye is being turned to problems so obvious. This is not just a mental health issue – it applies across the board.
These women, mothers usually, have been courageous and persistent. That it happens and so often is one of the most hopeful things in my life. It is difficult to avoid being attracted to these women. Some but not all of them feature on the Dedication page of Shipwreck.
The same hit me about AOC. For what seem similar reasons, she is attractive to me anyway. I ran into fire from a bunch of people when I mentioned this. I could say Courageous and Charismatic without it being a problem but Attractive was read as Beautiful and sexist.
The men who get involved in these things are equally attractive. Yannis Varoufakis is attractive. Jose-Mario Bergoglio used to seem attractive but I think I’d downgrade him to appealing – he refuses to engage with Drug Wrecks.
Attractive seems the right word to me. It describes what is needed – an ability to draw people to you. Having an isolated Courageous or Charismatic Hero is of limited use.
Cooking
AOC runs cookery classes or sessions online. It was at one of these that the storming of Capitol Hill and the link between that and sexual abuse came up.
It would be great if people tuned in and tried to get some sense as to whether she would confront or ignore the obvious when it comes to Drug Wrecks. She seems to respond genuinely – how would she respond on this?
Sexual abuse and trauma is easier to talk about these days than Drug Wrecks.
We need an Attractive politician – female or male – to pick this gauntlet up.
The High Noon post on davidhealy.org or the earlier The Perfect Killing Machine give good examples of what is needed
Shipwreck opens with an offer to any politician or political party to make available the material to enable them to pick these issues up – issues that are making the climate of health services more toxic than the global climate and are leading to falls in our Life Expectancies that are more dramatic than any rise in sea levels.
Is there an Attractive Person out there?
Pogo says
The Guardian article linked to, jarred with what I was watching live. The mob didn’t storm the same building where AOC was working. Think it would be better not to focus on any political figures and what is reported in the Main Stream Media. There is just too much distortion pouring forth from them. As a contrast to the Guardian report, here is right wing Ben Shapiro explaining how the media distorted AOC’s account (which has now been repeated on Rxisk). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAgzKL_8qpE
Dr. David Healy says
This is an interesting link. It does cast doubt on how likely AOC is to be someone who will pick up this gauntlet.
We still need someone who can endorse these issues from a public platform in a manner that gets public attention – whether the person is on the Right or Left, Green or whatever doesn’t matter.
The media can no longer do this. It almost has to be a politician or political group who invite the public to vote for them and one of the bases for your vote for them will be that they state that the data from trials is not accessible and most of what appears in the scientific literature is written by ghosts and is often Fake.
Why do it? Because this is leading to Falling Life Expectancies, increased morbidity and decreased quality of life and turning us away from the need to find political solutions to our problems rather than focusing inwards on our selves and our bodies.
Once some political group campaigns on this, it forces the other parties to enter the conversation. At present all can ignore the obvious.
David
Bernard says
I actually wrote to Dr.Leo Varadkar here in Ireland, who seemed willing to take up the fight.(I had to pull out my case cause I knew I would loose…once the ball is rolling you are #$$%ed unless you have a critical expert onside).
But he might be worth talking to.
Another respected scientist and ( albeit unsuccessful) politician here is Dr.Bill Tormey, the endocrinologist.And he really cares about good science.He outed the shoddy research of one of his colleagues a few years back, unfortunately he was sued for slander for referring to her as ‘a right geebag’ …God Bless Him…
mary H says
There is a new GB News channel soon to set up here – main man, or at least the most outspoken, seems to be Andrew Neil. They describe their mission as wanting to reach those who feel ‘undeserved and unheard’ – will they be worth a try when they appear?
Dr. David Healy says
The media do Rotten Apples but not even Panorama are capable of taking on a Rotten Barrel problem – unless a political party puts the issue out there
David
susanne says
Kamaran Abbsi might =posibly independantly of thebmj or in our dreams if he could get thebmj involved? Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant
BMJ 2021; 372 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n314 (Published 04 February 2021)
Kamran Abbasi, executive editor
kabbasi@bmj.com
Dr. David Healy says
Kamran is great and would have made a good BMJ editor and may have been pushed out because he was braver than the average but even he isn’t able to do this on his own
D
susanne says
David – Kamran is back at thebmj again and has loads of contacts elsewhere as well He wouldn’t need to handle it all on his own. Is it worth a try?
Kamran Abbasi is a doctor, journalist, editor, and broadcaster.
Following five years in hospital medicine, in various medical specialties such as psychiatry and cardiology, he worked at The BMJ from 1997 to 2005. He is now back at The BMJ in a new role as executive editor for content, leading the journal’s strategic growth internationally, digitally, and in print.
In his career as a medical editor, Kamran is a former acting editor and deputy editor of The BMJ, editor of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, and a consultant editor for PLOS Medicine. He is editor of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine and JRSM Open. He created three major e-learning resources for professional development of doctors, including BMJ Learning and the Royal Society of Medicine’s video lecture service.
Kamran has held board level positions and been chief executive of an online learning company. He has consulted for several major organisations including Harvard University, the UK’s NHS, the World Health Organization, and McKinsey & Co. In addition, Kamran is an honorary visiting professor in the department of primary care and public health at Imperial College, London. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians of London, patron of the South Asian Health Foundation, and a member of the General Advisory Council of the King’s Fund.
He is an experienced contributor on radio and television.
Bernard says
What about PBS 60 Minutes,
Whistleblowers.org,
An Open Letter to Newspapers,(they seem to go down well)
The Economist ( eyes open after McKinsey and other payouts),
And various other Think Tanks and Research Institutes-
The Brookings Institute,
RAND Corporation,
Oxford Existential Risk/Future of Humanity Group ( they are connected to a bunch of others also)
And there are a lot more Think Tanks,Policy Research Institutes you can root out
Incidentally all the recent payouts probably total to about 20 Billion
Dr. Jeffrey Wigand got about 300 Billion from Big Tobacco (and all he had to do was risk his life…)
Dr. David Healy says
Have tried pretty well all of the above
No Joy
D
susanne says
Joan Bakewell and Betty Boothroyd in House of lords -campainers against treatment of elders during covid and other campaigns
susanne says
James Titcombe, Patient Safety Campaigner and co-founder of Harmed Patients Alliance.
Joanne Hughes, Co-founder Harmed Patients Alliance, Author http://www.mothersinstinct.co.uk, Patient Safety Campaigner and Advocate for Restorative Healing Approaches after Healthcare Harm. Twitter: @Mothers_Inst_UK
Justin Oxley says
It would be good if David Healy could get an interview with Philomena Cunk aka Dianne Morgan. It seems to be a pointer to ‘Bad Medicine’.
https://youtu.be/UmXzaJCBEBM
This is a more recent version of the same sketch with that Andrew Pollard fella director of the Oxford vaccine group.
https://youtu.be/3-y_SXHhf7Y
I think David should try and get an interview like this. I went and did a whole lot of research into Spiders after I watched that last version.
I’ve been reading the new Shipwreck book and it is one of the more interesting books I have read for a while. I posted a few links to RxISK and DH YouTube lectures under popular peoples YouTube videos I thought doing that a logical way to galvanise some curiosity in people. Find a popular celebrities channel and post a link to RxISK. For example under the Dr John Campbell fella who has been very influential talking about the coronavirus I posted a few signposts to RxISK. I don’t know if doing my signposting on popular peoples channels did any good but it can’t do any harm.
Carla says
Unless political leaders refrain from receiving handouts from big pharma, the rotten apples are always going to do their bad deeds.
How can the small take on the mighty if some political leaders are part of the problem?
How can they advocate for the people if they can not see the wood for the trees?
No wonder poor Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is singled out because she has not got an army of people with the same ‘mind set’ to back her up!
If she gathered a lot of people like us, world wide, imagine the kind of potential/influence she would have to overthrow those who perceive themselves as untouchable.
Suddenly, all the unbelievers would understand the enormity of this grave situation that is hidden from the lime light.
Dr. David Healy says
Its not about hand-outs
The system they are defending seems logical – based on the best evidence – RCTs etc.
David
susanne says
Re: Covid-19: Murder by Misinformation
Re: Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant Kamran Abbasi. 372:doi 10.1136/bmj.n314
Dear Editor
History is littered with examples of the atrocities which ensue when doctors abandon their traditional principles and judgement in favour of unquestioning subservience to government diktat – medical involvement in torture, human experimentation and psychiatric punishment of political dissidents being familiar examples.
Historically, public respect for and trust in doctors has exceeded that awarded to politicians. The unquestioning capitulation of medicine to an authoritarian executive and predatory corporate power may have undermined the doctor-patient relationship for a generation……..
Competing interests: No competing interests
06 February 2021
Janet Menage
GP retired
JAnet M has done alot of campaigning on different things and has loads of contacts as a result Some might be willing to cross over their campaigning skills
eghttps://15square.org.uk/addressing-the-hidden-trauma/ of female examinations Has also written about trauma of circumcision
This is about radiation but the breadth of expertise is huge
2020 NIR Consensus Statement Signatories
You are here:Home/2020 NIR Consensus Statement Signatories
SIGNATORIES:
MEDICAL DOCTORS GROUP SIGNATORIES
SCIENTIFIC GROUP SIGNATORIES:
UK MEDICAL DOCTORS:
UK SCIENTISTS:
ASSOCIATED SPECIALISTS SIGNATORIES:
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL DOCTORS:
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTISTS:
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH PRACTITIONERS:
UK & INTERNATIONAL NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)
CONCERNED CITIZENS:
Jo Ann Cook says
There is no evidence that AOC lied. It is always important to fact check the fact checkers, as we do with the false claims about our drugs.
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-aoc-instagram-live-video-idUSKBN2A51RK
Jo Ann
Carla says
David, there should be no more excuses for defending a system that is harming and killing a lot of innocent people. There are many forums, websites and people just like
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez trying to make people aware of the perils of the system. Many have known about the devastating effects of benzodiazepines for many decades. What has been done about the issues to address the concerns that professionals are concerned about?
Why has there not been an enquiry into those who have been devastatingly impacted by these medicines?
Many leaders cannot afford to continuously sweep pressing matters such as these under the carpet because too many people have been severely impacted.
The Laws need to evolve to keep up with reality.
There is more evidence than one can poke a stick at.
Hence, the rigid system no longer serves those who have impacted.
The system will always justify itself with outdated responses.
The old adage that is so commonly used and does not keep up with reality is:
If it does not impact everyone severely, why try to fix up something that is not broken!
susanne says
Hi Carla – yes ,
all those involved with handling drugs should be proactively contacting those who are reporting harms = not the other way round.
Just read a bit on this on PHE website guidance ,which seems odd. Surely if medics are picking up on this they should be obliged to avise those who consult them and give advice as to what they should do to safeguard selves and others ,as well as report to PHE Obliged rather than ‘oppotunistically’ have a choice whether to report – just as there’s no obligation to use the Yellow Card inadequate as is may be
Not sure why MHRA shouldn’t be informed when there is an adverse effect or a non effect to vaccines Another case of not my job?
This site is intended for health professionals only
Pulse Intelligence
GPs to opportunistically report patients who developed Covid after vaccination
Opportunistically report
Costanza Pearce
10 February 2021
GPs should opportunistically record confirmed Covid in patients who have been vaccinated if they see them face to face, Public Health England (PHE) has said.
Patients who have had either one or both of their Covid jabs and tested positive or started symptoms within the past seven days and ‘at least’ ten days after their first dose should be reported to PHE by their GP, it added.
PHE guidance updated last month said that it is conducting ‘enhanced surveillance of cases of infection in vaccinated individuals in England’.
The guidance said: ‘Clinicians who are seeing patients face to face are encouraged (eh! thought we are trying to prevent spread of virus) to report any confirmed cases in partially or fully vaccinated individuals if they tested positive within the preceding seven days.
However, GPs ‘do not need to recall’ vaccinated patients who are Covid positive but only need to report cases when patients are seen face to face, the guidance said.
There is also no requirement to report retrospective cases, it added.
A PHE briefing note sent to practices last month said the ‘passive reporting’ would monitor the ‘effectiveness and impact’ of the vaccination programme
‘With an effective vaccine, positive test results in vaccinated individuals are more likely to be false positives than positive tests in unvaccinated individuals.’
It added that there may be ‘certain groups that are less likely to respond to vaccination than others’ and certain virus variants that vaccines are less effective against.
Who will be the ‘certain groups’ ?? will they be identified and given altrenative options ?
susanne says
Thebmj has distanced themselves from the comments to the article 10 Feb There are many similar comments in the same vein so not sure why J Menage comment has the message posted a day later on hers of 9th feb,. Guess they are getting some flack for publishing
Editorials
Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant
BMJ 2021; 372 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n314 (Published 04 February 2021)
Cite this as: BMJ 2021;372:n314
Re: Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant
Important editorial notice for readers: This is a rapid response (online comment by a third party) and not an article in The BMJ. It is attributed in a misleading way on certain websites and social media. The Editor, 10/02/2021.
That notice has been pasted by thebmj on the comment by Janet Menage Below To date there are 21 responses to the article which was published by thebmj along with comments
Dear Editor
History is littered with examples of the atrocities which ensue when doctors abandon their traditional principles and judgement in favour of unquestioning subservience to government diktat – medical involvement in torture, human experimentation and psychiatric punishment of political dissidents being familiar examples.
Abbasi takes as axiomatic that there was no prior immunity in the population, that lockdowns are effective, that computer modelling is realistic, that statistics have been accurate and that WHO statements are reliable. All of these parameters have been widely challenged by knowledgeable and conscientious researchers whose findings were often disregarded, censored or vilified.
From a medical perspective, it was clear early on in the crisis that disregarding clinical acumen in favour of blind obedience to abnormal ventilation measures, reliance on an unsuitable laboratory test for diagnosis and management, and abandoning the duty of care to elderly hospitalised patients and those awaiting diagnosis and treatment of serious diseases, would create severe problems down the line.
Doctors who had empirically found effective pharmaceutical remedies and preventative treatments were ignored, or worse, denigrated or silenced. Information regarding helpful dietary supplements was suppressed.
This was further compounded by rule-changes to death certification, coroners’ instructions, autopsy guidelines, DNR notices and the cruel social isolation policy enforcement regarding family visits to the sick and dying.
When medical professionals allow themselves to be manipulated by corrupt politicians and influenced by media propaganda instead of being guided by their own ethical principles and common sense based on decades of clinical experience, the outlook becomes very bleak indeed.
Historically, public respect for and trust in doctors has exceeded that awarded to politicians. The unquestioning capitulation of medicine to an authoritarian executive and predatory corporate power may have undermined the doctor-patient relationship for a generation.
Competing interests: No competing interests
susanne says
Editorials
Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant
BMJ 2021; 372 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n314 (Published 04 February 2021)
Cite this as: BMJ 2021;372:n314
Re: Covid-19: Murder by Misinformation
Notice posted on J Menage’s comment by thebmj
Important editorial notice for readers: This is a rapid response (online comment by a third party) and not an article in The BMJ. It is attributed in a misleading way on certain websites and social media. The Editor, 10/02/2021.
This is a comment in support of what she says along with many others in the same vein
Re: Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant; will public’s rating of doctors too fall?
Re: Covid-19: Social murder, they wrote—elected, unaccountable, and unrepentant Kamran Abbasi. 372:doi 10.1136/bmj.n314
Dear Editor
Dr Menage’s remark (6 February 2021) that, “The unquestioning capitulation of medicine to an authoritarian executive and predatory corporate power may have undermined the doctor-patient relationship for a generation”[1] merits commenting further. I think, obedience or submissiveness is inherent in medicine from medical school to the highest places in the profession, mainly when dealing with professional colleagues. In medicine, dissent is not usually seen as the norm or acceptable, and the pecking order is religiously respected. The biases in decision making and disproportionate collegiate loyalties stem from such ingrained behavioural patterns. Yet, doctors have been ranked highly by the public for decades and their status is incomparable with politicians, who usually lie towards the bottom of the table.
However, the unprecedented exposure of inextricable links between high ranking doctors and politicians during the pandemic have raised concerns as to complicity; it’s no secret that politicians have repeatedly alleged, their decision making is based on advice of those professionals. In view of the catastrophic outcomes which Abbasi has succinctly highlighted [2], the understandable public outrage is likely to be aimed at the crucial decision makers, thus it would be impossible for relevant doctors to put up ‘Chinese walls’. Whether such public outcry would tarnish the trust, respect, and confidence in doctors generally, will be something that’s worth monitoring.
An indication of developing public disquiet as to doctors’ decision making is aptly stated in Zekria Ibrahimi’s response (8 February 2021) where it is said, “The medical establishment has been in charge – with contradictory messages over, say, face masks. There is no humility in the editorial. The truth is it will be doctors and hospitals who may face legal actions from angry families who have lost relatives. Mea culpa should start with the BMA”[4].
It is also arguable that doctors in general were not sufficiently vociferous with regard to apparent injustices which some patients actually faced and are still facing during this pandemic. I cited one example of a possible injustice involving patients detained under the Mental Health Act involving the application of blanket policies [5].
Justin Oxley says
This fella is Kevin Fong I remember him from my time at UCL years ago in 1992/93 we both had the same tutor in our final year project. He went on to do Medicine after Physics and did very well at it by the looks of things, Kevin has been on the television documentary programme Horizon quite a bit you can find him on YouTube he is a very good communicator. I think he has an OBE and all sorts of other things now.
https://youtu.be/PIFn3rlh9Wc
I’m not really into show business stuff I prefer a quiet life tinkering around in a shed all day. Also these days with protracted ssri withdrawals I am sometimes a bit grumpy and dizzy nobody wants to see me whinging on their televisions.
I did email Kevin and pointed him at the RxISK site but I got no reply. I would imagine that he has plenty of engagements to keep himself very busy. As well as appearing on television more frequently than most people he is also an anesthesiologist at UCH these days so he probably has a hectic schedule.
AC says
Rupert Murdock, Rebecca Brooks are probably the most ‘Powerful’ communicators on the Planet. I don’t know how much influence RM has on social Media? The Daily Mail, which is owned by Mr Murdock has run articles questioning the ‘Safety’ Of prescribed drugs, especially anti – depressants,. There is a brave Journalist Miranda Levy who has questioned the ‘status’ quo, both in ‘The Mail and The Telegraph…… Channel 4’ Dispatches’would be a better bet than BBCs Panorama….. What is Shelly Joffre up to nowadays…..
Zekria Ibrahimi says
I am now, rather belatedly, I’m afraid, reacting to Susanne’s comment on February11, 2021. She quotes a BMJ rapid response by the sceptical J Manage, in which another BMJ rapid response by equally sceptical me (Zekria Ibrahimi, OAP, aged 62) is quoted.
I would ask to broaden the debate here to the question of vaccines.
My on my, there is such a veritably instant wide spectrum of them, delivered in a matter of months.
The greedy drug companies seem to be making billions.
Why, with booster shots, and jabs every winter for this seasonal disease, Big Pharma appears to be rolling in it, during a pandemic that has locked down the planet.
What a ‘PR opportunity’ it’s been! One Oxford/AstraZeneca researcher has even had a Barbie doll made of her! An Oxford/ AstraZeneca jab book’s been released too, trying to justify the error-prone ‘progress’ of ChAdOx1.
The problem is the word, ‘months’.
A credible vaccine should take many difficult and stressful years in the lab to produce.
The lab research, then the official approval, were excessively rushed.
A vaccine looked like a ‘quick fix’ that may prove a mere sad illusion.
I’m not an anti-vaxxer, but the history of this branch of medicine is littered with mistakes and ethical ambiguity- from Jenner himself, who infected an apparently healthy boy/guinea pig first with cowpox, then with smallpox, to investigate whether the initial coxpox was in effect a ‘vaccine’ (1)
No one would treat patients as guinea pigs nowadays, would they?
Ah…
But the buzzword now is ‘real world data’.
That is, seeing how the vaccines act among the millions now inoculated.
That is, ‘real world data’ is a euphemism for Big Pharma having conducted prior clinical trials that weren’t good enough.
That is, Joe Public is being suckered as a guinea pig.
QED.
I would take the Chinese vaccines, since these are of the very basic inactivated killed virus type. They would seem appropriate for booster jabs. They look safe, even if they’re not top sophisticated science.
I’ve got a problem with the DNA and mRNA vaccines- which are novel, high-tech, and perhaps risky. As far as I can tell, these are actually mimicking the way a virus behaves, by- we are told, briefly and safely- inserting themselves into the nucleus or into ribosomes to produce the desired pseudo-antigen that provokes the appropriate native antibody. If you wouldn’t have genetically modified food on grounds of ethical concerns, you would be reluctant and scared about these vaccines. And what about booster shots of these vaccines, continually coming in and out of the essential cell apparatus?
You mess about with a basic building block such as the gene- or the atom- and you’re asking for trouble.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is a DNA one. Its blood clot dilemma is strange, because this coincides with a big fall in platelets levels- which normally create clots. We’ve got a heparin -like autoimmune reaction, as the antibodies in turn clump alongside platelets- and a deadly clot may be formed (2).
One problem was injecting the vaccine into the bloodstream, rather than the muscle- it was the former that precipitated blood clots.
You could fear that a vaccine able to mess about with the nucleus (or the ribosomes) could have all sorts of unintended consequences.
Anyway, returning to the ‘real world data’, we could with nervous trepidation investigate whether the vaccines have worked, or not.
In face, a day by day scan of the grim bills of mortality would indicate that the toll is actually larger in the late summer of 2021 than it was in the late summer of 2020- when there were no vaccines.
Cripes!
What sort of disaster is going to happen this winter, when Covid will be at its dreadful worst?
References:
(1)
Vaccines. A Biography. A.A A. Artenstein, Editor. Springer. 2010.
(2)
Covid Vaccines and Blood Clots: What Researchers Know So Far. Heidi Ledford. Nature. Vol. 576. 26 August, 2021. Pgs. 479-481.