Emer Cooke, the CEO of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is Irish. This is Dublin's famous Halfpenny Bridge which for some reason features in an article outlining the history of the phrase Tail wags Dog which seems appropriate for what followed. I wrote to Emer recently about a bizarre letter I received from Kinapse - A Brush with EMA - who run EMA's medical literature … [Read more...] about How the Safety of Drugs was Destroyed
Dopamine agonists
The Wild Doctor – Le Médecin Sauvage
The French playwright Moliere loved poking fun at pomposity especially when it involved doctors. In Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, he pokes fun at Monsieur Jourdain, a pompous upstart, who has come into money and is taking on airs and graces. Translating gentilhomme into gentleman misses what the word meant around 1660, which was more like civilized, the manners which … [Read more...] about The Wild Doctor – Le Médecin Sauvage
Could Journalists be Doctors in Disguise
I had to give some workshops a few years ago to media students and either while thinking about what to say or in the middle of saying it, or soon after, it hit me that good doctoring has a lot in common with good journalism. Both hinge on getting the story right and key to that is having a real person whom others can contact to check out the story they have been told about … [Read more...] about Could Journalists be Doctors in Disguise
DD and AA Groups Similarities and Differences
Illustration: Is There Life After Meds?, © 2014 created by Billiam James DD in this case stands for Drug Damaged. AA for Alcoholics Anonymous. Some of the material in this post is likely to disturb some readers. Reading it in conjunction with Here We Stand We Can Do No Other and Dos Centavos - Veinte Euros may help make sense of material that may not sit well with some … [Read more...] about DD and AA Groups Similarities and Differences
Podcasts, YouTube Channels, Blogs and Related
In some of the comments after the last post, POGO mentioned that Josef Witt-Doerring has done two interviews with me so far and posted them on his site. The Risks of Antidepressants and Antidepressants and Mass Shootings/Murder Suicide: An interview has also appeared on Demystifying Science podcast with Anastasia & Michael Shilo The Podcast called … [Read more...] about Podcasts, YouTube Channels, Blogs and Related
Antidepressant Neuropathy and the Color of Life
Illustration: Is There Life After Meds?, © 2014 created by Billiam James Here is a Question put to the recent RxISK post on Sensory Neuropathy. I’m a psychologist and I have made numerous attempts to discontinue antidepressants only to experience significant withdrawal symptoms. I’ve been on antidepressants for 25 years at this point and have made four unsuccessful attempts … [Read more...] about Antidepressant Neuropathy and the Color of Life
A Public Service or A Lethal Scam?
RxISK was emailed about a post on SSRI Stories recently. Julie Wood runs SSRI stories, which features newspaper or related public domain material about suicides, homicides or other events linked to SSRI or other psychotropic drug intake. The email read as follows: Your using an article about my family members suicide as a propaganda piece and it is unacceptable, scummy, … [Read more...] about A Public Service or A Lethal Scam?
Clinical Trial Fraud
This is part two of Johanna Ryan's posts on Ghosts in the Clinical Trial Machine or Clinical Trial Fraud. Last weeks post reported on how doctors in three states have been convicted of handing in fake clinical-trial results from fake patients. This week we’ll examine how small-time crooks like these ended up doing world-class medical research for companies like GSK. Medical … [Read more...] about Clinical Trial Fraud
Ghosts in the Clinical Trial Machine
This is the first part of a two part series on clinical trial fraud from Johanna Ryan, with part 2 next week. Jo is RxISK's clinical trial and shoddy clinical practice sleuth - see The Maintenance Man. Recently the U.S. Department of Justice called attention to a small but worrisome crime wave. Health care fraud is a familiar feature of American life that may account for … [Read more...] about Ghosts in the Clinical Trial Machine
Antidepressants: Education and Disability Certificates
This post covers difficulties primarily on antidepressants that medicines can cause to people in schools or universities who end up unable to study or do course-work, as well as the difficulties people can have trying to get off medicines, a process that can be pretty disabling. The materials linked to this post are being put in your hands to run an experiment and hopefully … [Read more...] about Antidepressants: Education and Disability Certificates