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MDs go on strike, death rate drops
The
June 10, 2000 issue of the British Medical Journal reports that on
March 9, 2000, doctors in the Israel Medical Association began
sanctions to reduce their contact with patients (in other words, a
strike) in order to protest a new four-year wage contract for doctors.
Since
going on strike, the death rate in Israel has dropped considerably
according to a survey of Israeli Burial Societies. "The number of
funerals we have performed has fallen drastically," said Hananya
Shahor, Director of Jerusalem's Kehilat Yerushalayim Burial Society.
"This month, there were only 93 funerals compared with 153 in may 1999,
133 in the same months in 1998, and 139 in May 1997."
Meir Adler,
who manages the Shamgar Funeral Parlour says, "there definitely is a
connection between the doctors' sanctions and fewer deaths. We saw the
same thing in 1983 (when the doctors applied sanctions for four and a
half months)".
There is one town in Israel where the death rate
has remained constant, the town of Netanya. Netanya has only one
hospital and the doctors there signed a no-strike clause with their
contract. The doctors in Netanya have not participated in the
country-wide sanctions.
A similar situation also occurred in the
United States. According to Robert Mendelsohn, M.D., In his book
Confessions of a Medical Heretic, (1979) in Los Angeles County,
California in 1976 the doctors went on a work slowdown to protest
soaring malpractice insurance premiums.
There was an 18% drop in the
death rate. When the strike ended, the death rate went back to where it
had been before the strike.
In retrospect, that may not have been the best argument they could
have made about high malpractice insurance rates.
Adverse Drug Events proliferate
A
study to measure the occurrence and preventability of Adverse Drug
Events (ADEs) in the July 5, 1995 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association found that slightly more than 6% of adults admitted
to the study hospitals surgical units suffered from an ADE of some kind.
Reported
incidents were classified by two independent reviewers as ADEs or
potential ADEs as well as for severity and preventability
Over
a six month period, the study found that out of 4,031 patients
admitted, 247 of them experienced ADEs and 194 of the cases were
identified as potential ADEs..
1% of the cases were fatal (none
preventable), 12% were life-threatening (42% preventable), 30% were
serious (also 42% preventable) and 57% were significant. (28%
preventable).
Mistakes that resulted in ADEs happened most often
when ordering the drug, 56% and giving the drug, 34%. Transcription and
dispensing errors made up the remaining 10%.
Reviewing statistics for 1995 reveals ADEs cause:
$76.6 billion in medical bills.
106,000 199,000 deaths.
8.8 million hospitalizations.
Statistical data reveals:
Fatalities due to adverse reactions are greater than those of high-risk
sexual behavior, firearms, and motor vehicle injuries combined.
Medication errors are the second most frequent and second most expensive malpractice claim.
Most complications are dose-dependent. Therefore, 70-80 percent of these complications are predictable and preventable.
Steroid therapy continues
despite known dangers
The
July 15, 1998 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, reports
that medical doctors continue to prescribe prolonged steroid therapy
for millions of Americans despite the fact that research has proven it
can lead to serious bone loss (osteoporosis) that weakens the bones.
The study was conducted at the University of Arkansas for Medical
Sciences
in conjunction with the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System.
The researchers said, "Basically, our findings revealed that when
animals or humans take high doses of steroids, not only fewer
bone-forming cells are made, but they are dying prematurely."
The
lead author of the study, Dr. Robert Weinstein says, "Our study shows
that steroid-induced osteoporosis arises from changes in the number of
bone cells available to maintain bone, causing eventual fractures and,
also, collapse of large joints. No bone is spared from the
steroid-induced bone loss, but the effects are more dramatic in the
spine and in the hip. Unlike common age-and gender-related types of
osteoporosis, this form of the disease occurs at any age, even in
children. Not infrequently, patients that took steroids for many years
end up in a wheelchair."
The researchers pointed out that medicine
has known about the long term effects of steroid use for 60 years yet
continue to use them more and more often.
Why? Doctors seem to be
ignorant of the dangers. Weinstein says. "A recent survey of physicians
showed that most underestimated the risk of [steroid]-induced
osteoporosis in men and women. Only 25% ranked osteoporosis as one of
the top three side effects of high-dose [steroid] therapy in a 45
year-old premenopausal woman and 8% ranked it as one of the top three
side effects in a 45 year-old man."
Prozac: Drug producer hides
suicidal reactions
The
May 9, 2000 edition of the Boston Globe reports that Eli Lilly and Co.
has known for years that Prozac, its best selling drug on the market
could cause suicidal reactions in a significant number of patients.
Although Lilly has downplayed the danger in the past, the patent for a
"new" Prozac promises that the new version will not produce "its more
significant side effects," suicidal thoughts and self mutilation.
A review of the company's internal documents, government applications and patents made some interesting findings:
In
1990, Lilly scientists were pressured by Lilly executives to alter
records on physician experiences with Prozac. Mentions of suicide
attempts were changed to "overdose" and suicidal thoughts to
"depression."
The German equivalent of the US FDA refused to
approve Prozac because Lilly's own studies showed that previously
non-suicidal patients who took Prozac were five times more likely to
attempt or commit suicide than those on older anti-depressants and
three times more likely than those taking placebos. Lilly has long
maintained that an insignificant number of people who take Prozac have
attempted or committed suicide and has been very active in trying to
discredit researchers who continually prove them wrong.
Dr. David
Healy, director of the North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine
at the University of Wales is an expert on the brain's serotonin system
that Prozac affects. Using his and Lilly's own research he estimates
that "probably 50,000 people have committed
suicide on Prozac since its launch, over and above the number who would have done so if left untreated."
By
way of commentary, 50,000 people (a number Lilly sees as insignificant)
are dead over the years as a direct result of using Prozac and the
company is still selling it? World-wide last year (1999) Eli Lilly
& Co. earned $10 billion in revenue. Prozac was responsible for
more than 25% of that income.
Hundreds Of Infant Deaths Occur Every Year From Drug Reactions
The
November 2002 issue of the journal Pediatrics reports that an average
of 243 infant deaths occur each year from prescription drugs,
biological products and other therapeutic agents.
The study involved
case reviews of more than 500,000 adverse drug events (ADEs) occurring
from November 1997 through December 2000. The study was performed by
researchers at George Washington University and the University of
Maryland. 7,111 of the ADEs reviewed involved children under the age of
two.
The Authors found that in the 7,111 cases:
only 17 drugs
or biological products were a suspect in 54% of all serious and fatal
adverse events in drugs administered directly.
The drug palivizumab, used in high-risk pediatric patients, accounted for 28% of the adverse events.
Four drugs accounted for 38% of the reported deaths: palivizumab (15%),
nitric oxide (11%), indomethacin (10%) and cisapride (3%). Even though
widely used for gastroesophageal reflux in children, Cisapride was not
approved for use in infants by the FDA. It was withdrawn from the U.S.
market in 2000 because it was found to cause cardiac arrhythmia and
sudden death.
In 24% of all the adverse events, exposure to the drug was from the
mother during pregnancy, delivery or breast-feeding.
31% of the deaths occurred in the first month of life and 50% between day two and the 12th month.
The
authors say drug reactions in children are more likely because young
children have immature detoxification mechanisms and because doses must
be individually adjusted for a much wider range of body size and
weight.
Cold And Cough Medications May Be
Deadly To Infants
The
January 12, 2007 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says
that the deaths of three infants between 1 and 6 months of age were
attributed to the use of common, over-the-counter cold and cough
medications.
Normal
therapeutic dosing of the drug pseudoephedrine in children between 2
and 12 years old produces blood levels of the drug ranging from 180 to
500 ng/ml. In the autopsies of the three dead infants, blood levels of
pseudoephedrine ranged from 4700 to 7100 ng/ml.
Dr. A. Srinivasan
and colleagues at the CDC report that between 2004 and 2005, about 1500
children under the age of two were taken to U.S. emergency rooms to be
treated for adverse drug reactions to cold and cough medications.
In
a related editorial, the CDC says that in controlled trials, cold and
cough medications were no more effective than a placebo in children
younger than two years of age. In 2006, the American College of Chest
Physicians advised doctors to refrain from recommending cough
medications
for kids in this age group. They suggested instead that parents use
saline nose drops or a cool-mist humidifier to soften mucus and then
clearing the congestion out with a rubber suction bulb.
Dramatic Rise In Asthma Risk With
Antibiotic Use
A
study in the November 14, 2007 issue of the journal Chest reports that
giving children antibiotics in the first year of life may significantly
increase their risk of contracting asthma before age 7.
A
prescription database of more than 13,000 children was examined.
Researchers compared the occurrence of asthma with a number of risk
factors such as antibiotic use, gender, maternal asthma history, living
location, income, the presence of pets in the home and the number of
brothers and sisters at the sage of seven.
Children who were given
antibiotics for non-respiratory tract infections in the first year of
life doubled the likelihood they would develop asthma at the age of
seven than those children who were not given antibiotics. In fact, the
more antibiotics they received, the greater their risk of
developing asthma.
Interestingly,
the presence of a dog in the house decreased the risk of developing
asthma even in children who received multiple antibiotic treatments.
"Dogs
bring germs into the home, and it is thought that this exposure is
required for the infant's immune system to develop normally. Other
research has shown that the presence of a dog in early life protects
against the development of asthma," said lead researcher Anita
Kozyrskyj.
Commentary: This study reinforces our belief that a good dog goes a long way. Adopt one today.
Preventable Medical Error Death
Estimates Double
On July 27, 2004 the news service HealthDayNews reported that the
estimated number of people in the United States who die each year from
preventable medical errors in hospitals has more than doubled from previous estimates of 98,000 per year to more than 195,000.
The
previous estimate came from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999.
The current report was produced by HealthGrades, Inc., a health-quality
ratings company. IOM representatives confirmed the new estimates saying
their 1999 estimates were always considered to be on the conservative
side.
In the study, 37 million Medicare patient hospital records
from 2000 to 2002 were reviewed. The data showed there were about 1.14
million safetyrelated incidents associated with 323,993 deaths. 81%
of those deaths were specifically attributable to an incident. One in
every four Medicare patients who experienced an incident died.
The report also found that 60% of all safety-related incidents were the
result of failure to rescue (that is, the failure to diagnose and treat a
condition that developed in the hospital), bedsores and post-operative sepsis and infection.
According
to the authors, during the time frame of the study, 2000 to 2002, the
575,000 preventable deaths that occurred cost American consumers an
extra $19 billion.
Lead author, Dr. Samantha Collier said, The
magnitude of this is significant. We need to address this and we need
to have support from the medical community. I think its a safe bet
to say that weve maybe gotten a little complacent about patient safety
in the medical community, and this is just re-sparking and refueling
debate around how to address this, she said. Hopefully, it is
creating a sense of urgency.
U.S. Leads The World In
Medical Errors
The
November 3, 2005 issue of the internet journal Health Affairs reports
that patients in the United States reported higher rates of medical
errors and more disorganized doctor visits than people in other
countries around the world.
The study was a phone survey of patients
who had experienced some kind of serious health issue that required
intense medical treatment or hospitalization.
Thirty-four percent
of U.S. patients reported that they received the wrong medication,
improper treatment or incorrect or delayed test results during the last
two years.
Thirty percent of patients in Canada reported similar
results along with 27 percent of Australian patients, twenty-five
percent in New Zealand, 23 percent in Germany and 22 percent in Britain.Many medical procedures
unproven, untested
The
American Medical Association estimates that 40-60% of the 2.1 billion
prescriptions written last year were prescribed to treat conditions for
which they were not approved or, in many cases, were not even tested.
Writing
prescriptions for conditions the drug has not been approved or tested
for is called off-labeling described by some as controversial at
best, dangerous at worst. An example? 200,000 children with Attention
Deficit Disorder (ADD) are being prescribed clonidine, an adult high
blood pressure drug.
Dr. Richard Greene, director of the Agency for
Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) says, The public is shocked
when they learn that there isn't a shred of evidence for a lot of
medical therapies. They just can't believe their doctor is doing things
that they couldn't back up.
Birth trauma during medically assisted
deliveries dangerous to newborns
In
a landmark study published in Developmental Medicine and Child
Neurology in 1969, Dr. Abraham Towbin reports that during the final
extraction of the fetus, mechanical stress imposed by [obstetricians]
even the application of standard orthodox procedures may prove
intolerable to the fetus.
The most common cause of this damage is
excessive traction and twisting of the infants neck when using the
head as a lever to extract the infant from the birth canal, damaging
spinal structures, the spinal cord and brain stem. Survival of the
infant depends on brain stem functions such as respiration, heart
activity and reflex actions.
Unfortunately, such damage often goes
undiagnosed and unreported since many doctors are unaware of the
significance of birth trauma spinal cord and brain stem injury. Routine
examination of spinal structures are not normally done during autopsies
of newborns.
Towbin, of the Harvard Medical School and the
Department of Pathology (Neonatology) of St. Margarets Hospital in
Boston, reports that spinal damage can occur in numerous ways. Rupture
and tearing of the covering of the brain and spinal cord (Meninges),
tearing of the spinal nerve roots and laceration, swelling and
compression of the spinal cord and brain stem are common. While heart
function may or may not
be normal in such cases, respiratory depression soon after birth is a cardinal sign of brain stem injury.
By
way of commentary on this article, chiropractors correct the
misalignments (subluxations) that occur during even routine deliveries.
If your child, or any you know, experienced a difficult delivery, it is
imperative that their spines be checked by a chiropractor for
subluxation. Chiropractic correction of spinal problems should begin as
soon as they occur.Needle Biopsy Linked To Spread
Of Breast Cancer
The
June 2004 Archives of Surgery reports that having breast cancer tissue
biopsied with a needle seems to increase the chance that the disease
will spread to the lymph nodes in the armpit known as sentinel nodes.
The
research was done by Dr. Nora Hansen of the John Wayne Cancer Institute
at Saint Johns Health Center in Santa Monica, California. She studied
663 women with proven breast cancer. About half of the cancers were
biopsied with a needle while the remainder had the tumor removed and
then checked for cancer cells.
Women who had the needle biopsy were
50% more likely to have cancer in the sentinel nodes. The researchers
felt that this was due in part to the mechanical disruption of the
tumor by the needle.Elective C-Sections Increase
Infant Deaths
A
new study in the September 2006 issue of the journal Birth reports a
higher risk of deaths in babies born by cesarean section to mothers who
have no medical reason to have the procedure done.
Lead researcher
Dr. Marion MacDorman of the National Center for Health Statistics at
the Centers for Disease Control in Hyattsville, Maryland says that
rates of c-sections have increased steadily in the United States. In
1996 14.6 percent of all first-time births were c-sections.
In 2004
the rate increased to 20.6 percent. A greater risk of death among
infants born by c-section has been noted since 1989, when
data on
c-sections began being gathered. Researchers have always assumed that
this was because these babies were more likely to die from other causes.
To
find out if c-sections have a contributing effect on infant deaths, the
researchers looked at the records of 5.8 million births between 1998
and 2001 that were considered to be at no risk for a c-section. No
risk means a single baby, full-term, in a head down position with no
other medical risk factors involved.
The authors had previously
noted a 49 percent increase in c-section rates between 1996 and 2001
among women in the no risk category.
The risk of death in the
first 28 days of life was 1.77 deaths per 1,000 live births among the
no risk women who had c-sections and 0.62 deaths per 1,000 live
births in no risk women who delivered vaginally.
The researchers could find no clear explanation for the difference, even after analyzing the various causes of infant death.
Commentary:
While the researchers couldnt account for the increase in c-section
deaths, damage to infants spines and nervous system structures during
the medically assisted delivery process has been well documented in the
literature and reported previously in this publication.
And with the
number of deaths nearly 300 percent higher in no risk, elective
c-sections, doctors continue to perform the procedures.
A November
2002 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
found that c-sections were on the increase for two reasons. One,
because they make it convenient for doctors to schedule births (the
doctors also mentioned that normal deliveries are more time-consuming
and they get paid more for a C-section). Two, because of the risk of
legal action if something goes wrong (an admittedly small chance).
Shameful,
disgusting, heartbreaking: Well let you pick the word to describe the
situation. Personally, we pick all three with many more easily coming
to mind.Health care "system" responsible
for 98,000 deaths every year
A
study reported in November, 1999 by the Institute of Health finds that
upwards of 98,000 Americans die from medical mistakes every year. The
institute calls the errors "stunning" and says there are ways to
prevent many of them from even occurring in the first place.
According
to the report, the problem lies with the health care "system" in
general and not so much with the individual practitioners who actually
make the mistakes while administering the care directly to the patients
who die as a result.
The report cited such "systemic" problems as
poor handwriting, too many drugs whose names sound alike and are easily
confused, the inability to decipher orders and fill prescriptions
properly as reasons for the deaths.
William Richardson, chairman of
the panel that compiled the report wrote "these stunningly high rates
of medical errors . . . Are simply unacceptable in a medical, disease
care system that promises first to 'do no harm.' "
By way of
commentary, let's put these numbers in perspective. 98,000 preventable
deaths from the health care "system" is about four times the number of
people who die from automobile accidents involving alcohol every year
(approximately 20,000, all preventable as well). While we
don't wish
to minimize the importance of groups like Mothers Against Drunk Drivers
(MADD), we look forward to the day when groups like Mothers Against the
Health Care System will form.
Research: Antibiotics not needed
for ear infections
Research
reported in the November 26, 1997 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association concludes that routinely treating children's ear
infections with antibiotics is medically unwarranted.
The research
indicates that using antibiotics is unnecessary not only because of the
danger of developing antibioticresistant organisms but also because
many children will recover from ear infections on their own.
Every year, doctors write more than 23 million prescriptions for antibiotics to treat ear infections.
Antibiotic overuse: doctors
blame parental pressure
The
February 1999 issue of the journal Pediatrics reports on a study that
finds parental pressure is the main reason doctors give when pressed
for reasons why they prescribe antibiotics to children in inappropriate
situations.
610 pediatricians, all members of the American Academy
of Pediatrics from around the country were surveyed. One in three of
the surveyed doctors said they often or occasionally prescribed
antibiotics they believed to be unnecessary to appease the parents.
Antibiotic
overuse is a major health problem. in 1980, 4.2 million prescriptions
were written for amoxicillin, most commonly used for ear infections. by
1992, the number of prescriptions increased by 194% to 12.4 million.
The use of cephalosporin antibiotics grew 687% during that same time.
The problem with antibiotic overuse, the researchers note,
is that
doctors continue to prescribe antibiotics for viral problems such as
colds and flu that they know the drugs are ineffective against.
100,000 die each year from
Adverse Drug Reactions
The
April 15, 1998 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association
reports that Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) in hospitals may cause more
than 100,000 deaths in the U.S. every year. This does not include ADR
deaths outside hospitals such as those at home or in nursing homes.
The
study, performed at the University of Toronto, found that 2,216,000
hospital patients experienced a serious ADR resulting in 106,000
deaths. This figure accounts for nearly 5% of all causes of recorded
death in 1994. This makes Adverse Drug Reactions the fourth leading
cause of death in the United States.
According to the U.S. Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Administration, 5,212 Americans die each year
from illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine. This means that in the
United States alone, properly prescribed and dispensed legal drugs kill
20 times the number of people that illegal drugs do.
Dramatic Rise In Asthma Risk With
Antibiotic Use
A
study in the November 14, 2007 issue of the journal Chest reports that
giving children antibiotics in the first year of life may significantly
increase their risk of contracting asthma before age 7.
A
prescription database of more than 13,000 children was examined.
Researchers compared the occurrence of asthma with a number of risk
factors such as antibiotic use, gender, maternal asthma history, living
location, income, the presence of pets in the home and the number of
brothers and sisters at the sage of seven.
Children who were given
antibiotics for non-respiratory tract infections in the first year of
life doubled the likelihood they would develop asthma at the age of
seven than those children who were not given antibiotics. In fact, the
more antibiotics they received, the greater their risk of
developing asthma.
Interestingly,
the presence of a dog in the house decreased the risk of developing
asthma even in children who received multiple antibiotic treatments.
"Dogs
bring germs into the home, and it is thought that this exposure is
required for the infant's immune system to develop normally. Other
research has shown that the presence of a dog in early life protects
against the development of asthma," said lead researcher Anita
Kozyrskyj.
Commentary: This study reinforces our belief that a good dog goes a long way. Adopt one today.
FDA: Antidepressants May Increase
Suicidal Behavior
The July 9, 2005 issue of the British Medical Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning that patients treated with antidepressants should be closely monitored for signs of deepening depression and increased suicidal thinking or behavior.
The FDA simultaneously posted new information that a higher than expected rate of suicide attempts were observed among patients taking the drug duloxetine, marketed in the US as Cymbalta.
A February 2005 study reported in the British Medical Journal showed that adults taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were twice as likely to attempt suicide as patients taking a placebo. After that study the FDA initiated a review of all SSRI antidepressants and asked manufacturers to provide all their data from any placebo controlled studies involving the drugs.
The warning states adults being treated with any type of antidepressant medication, particularly those being treated for depression, should be watched closely for worsening of depression and for increased suicidal thinking or behavior.
The warning is not, however, limited to the approved uses of the drugs. Studies of women taking Cymbalta for Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) found the risk of suicide attempts was twice that of the same age group of women in the general population. Cymbalta is not approved for use in the treatment of SUI.
Developed By:
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