This post needs reading in conjunction with - ideally just before - reading Partnerships in Healthcare on dh.org. Over several decades, most people I know, have, along with me, seen Gary Schwitzer, who runs a Health News Review Substack, as the best reviewer of lay and academic media accounts of health issues. Among Gary's great skills is an ability to pinpoint how media … [Read more...] about Health News Reviews SSRIs and FDA
Politics of care
Back to the Future of Personal Care
This post links to From Just Say No to Getting to Yes. If I prescribe you a medicine, the science starts when you swallow it. The observers at this experiment are you, your family, friends, people you work or live with – and me. Science is said to be based on Show Me not Trust Me. So you might say first Show me the Evidence - Inform my Consent. Can Consent be … [Read more...] about Back to the Future of Personal Care
Withdrawal Syndromes: Lost in Translation
Understanding Antidepressant Withdrawal © Coral Smith 2025 This post by Harriet Vogt follows on from her recent Ruptures in Clinical Care post The members of Shane Cooke and Mary Hennessey’s antidepressant withdrawal peer support group decided there was more to explore together after our first meeting. They wanted to dig deeper into their experiences of protracted … [Read more...] about Withdrawal Syndromes: Lost in Translation
Over-Diagnosing or Under-Diagnosing
This post follows on from Repairing Ruptures in Clinical Care and the Future of Health App-Ointments. It also links to An Appleby a Day and Tangled up in Bureaucracy. Repairing Ruptures had a lot of comments from Lucy. One of them kicks things off here. Lucy’s Struggle Since waking up to the adverse effects of psychiatric drugs, I have written countless letters to … [Read more...] about Over-Diagnosing or Under-Diagnosing
The Future of Health App-ointments
Several of the many people who write or track RxISK posts, have had input to this one, which dovetails with Harriet Vogt's post last week Repairing Ruptures in Clinical Care and the work of Shane Cooke and Mary Hennessey in getting health systems to listen to the voices of those harmed by treatment. The post, maybe, casts an ominous light on our abilities to get medicine to … [Read more...] about The Future of Health App-ointments
Repairing Ruptures in Clinical Care
Better Times Will Return © Josie Russell 2017 This post is by our warzone correspondent Harriet Vogt from frontline trenches. A few weeks ago I was invited to join an online discussion with a group of experts on iatrogenesis who have an in-depth knowledge of antidepressant withdrawal and the risks of polypharmacy. These highly informed, articulate, empathic medical … [Read more...] about Repairing Ruptures in Clinical Care
Who Will Make Medicine Great Again
Apologies to all readers outside of Britain who may never have heard about The Pirates of Penzance, definitely not The Pirates of the Caribbean. PoP though has a famous song - I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General - featuring a dimwit General who knows everything about everything except military strategy. This post ideally needs an … [Read more...] about Who Will Make Medicine Great Again
Deciphering the Web We Have Woven
Three people who got in touch recently, one with a problem, one with an idea, and one 'outraged' contributed to this post. The problem and idea illustrate what happens when doctors take Probity Blockers. The outrage tells you almost everything you need to know about the Web we are enmeshed in. Using the problem, idea and outrage, this post gives a punchier version of the … [Read more...] about Deciphering the Web We Have Woven
Embracing Healthcare’s Opportunities
Up to 1980, the pharmaceutical industry was small beer. Most of the companies had recently demerged from chemical companies, and were hiring management consultants to help them work out how to do the job. A steady stream of life-saving drugs from the 1940s to 1960s that people and health services were willing to buy at prices greatly in excess of their costs of production … [Read more...] about Embracing Healthcare’s Opportunities
It is Hard for Thee to Kick Against the Pricks
The title of this post by Peter Selley comes from the Acts of the Apostles. It captures the moment where the Divine is advising Paul to stop persecuting Christians. Acts 9:5 (KJV). An if you can't beat them, why not join them moment. The words lend themselves to the situation of anyone attempting to grapple with the growth of a new RSV religion in more than one sense. Among … [Read more...] about It is Hard for Thee to Kick Against the Pricks