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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 6:45 am Post subject: Medical Fraud |
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/01/05/health/AP-EU-MED-Autism-Fraud.html
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The first study to link a childhood vaccine to autism was based on doctored information about the children involved, according to a new report on the widely discredited research.
The conclusions of the 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues was renounced by 10 of its 13 authors and later retracted by the medical journal Lancet, where it was published. Still, the suggestion the MMR shot was connected to autism spooked parents worldwide and immunization rates for measles, mumps and rubella have never fully recovered.
A new examination found, by comparing the reported diagnoses in the paper to hospital records, that Wakefield and colleagues altered facts about patients in their study.
The analysis, by British journalist Brian Deer, found that despite the claim in Wakefield's paper that the 12 children studied were normal until they had the MMR shot, five had previously documented developmental problems. Deer also found that all the cases were somehow misrepresented when he compared data from medical records and the children's parents. |
Fraud and corruption in the Western medical establishment is a serious problem. I think so, anyways. How do deal with this? |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 6:49 am Post subject: |
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http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/ff_dsmv/all/1
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This new disease reminded Frances of one of his keenest regrets about the DSM-IV: its role, as he perceives it, in the epidemic of bipolar diagnoses in children over the past decade.
Shortly after the book came out, doctors began to declare children bipolar even if they had never had a manic episode and were too young to have shown the pattern of mood change associated with the disease.
Within a dozen years, bipolar diagnoses among children had increased 40-fold. Many of these kids were put on antipsychotic drugs, whose effects on the developing brain are poorly understood but which are known to cause obesity and diabetes.
In 2007, a series of investigative reports revealed that an influential advocate for diagnosing bipolar disorder in kids, the Harvard psychiatrist Joseph Biederman, failed to disclose money he�d received from Johnson & Johnson, makers of the bipolar drug Risperdal, or risperidone. (The New York Times reported that Biederman told the company his proposed trial of Risperdal in young children �will support the safety and effectiveness of risperidone in this age group.�) Frances believes this bipolar �fad� would not have occurred had the DSM-IV committee not rejected a move to limit the diagnosis to adults. |
The "bipolar fad" is possibly the product of the corruption of one man and the consequences extend to thousands of people. Should Biederman face legal consequences? |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah "fad" is the correct word when talking about bi-polar. A friend works for an agency that decides if people are disabled and should they recieve welfare payments for their disabilty. She is swamped by people claiming to be disabled because of bi-polar disorder. She has mad a point of studying the literature and has pretty much concluded that while there is manic depression a much more serious illness with real problems the bi polars applicants don't really seemed to be very disabled and not really affected by their "disease". While she is not an authority she has handled and interviewed thousands of these cases. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| The most important cause of the increase in autism diagnoses was the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, a federal law that required states to provide suitable education to autistics and to create registries for them. Autism has become a trendy diagnosis, and at times a useful one to stretch. "I am incredibly disciplined in the diagnostic classifications in my research," Judy Rapoport, a senior child psychiatrist at the National Institutes of Health, tells Grinker, "but in my private practice, I'll call a kid a zebra if it will get him the educational services I think he needs." |
http://www.slate.com/id/2157496/
I've been told by teachers that ADD is very 2000 and autism is the new thing. A boy who can't sit still, day dreams and talks back would have had ADD but now has autism.
He'll go his whole life self-labeling too.
I don't like the medicalization of feelings and dispositions. Some kids are weird. Some adults are naturally more (or less) happy. Some are shy. Everything is a disorder now. Every disorder has a pill. There is a very wide spectrum of normal, harmless behavior. Though the current paradigm replaced the Freudian assault. Just because Freud wanted to bang his mom and was obsessed with his anus doesn't mean we all share such proclivities. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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You are correct that it's a problem. Solving it from a comprehensive point of view seems difficult; so long as medicine is handled as a business, there will be conflicts of interest that result in researchers choosing enrichment over honesty. Legal consequences aren't out of the question, but we need to be careful to limit them only to cases of genuine wrong doing; no one should face legal consequence for merely being unintentionally in error.
Regarding children and medication for mental illness, on the other hand, there's a much simpler and easier solution: either illegalize it or at least severely restrict it. Putting children on medical medication is highly questionable. Our understanding of the human mind is still far too inadequate to be pumping chemicals into a still-developing human brain, and children are especially hard to accurately diagnose.
According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry:
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Medication may be prescribed for psychiatric symptoms and disorders, including, but not limited to:
1. Bedwetting-if it persists regularly after age 5 and causes serious problems in low self-esteem and social interaction.
2. Anxiety (school refusal, phobias, separation or social fears, generalized anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorders)-if it keeps the youngster from normal daily activities.
3. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-marked by a short attention span, trouble concentrating and restlessness. The child is easily upset and frustrated, often has problems getting along with family and friends, and usually has trouble in school.
4. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)-recurring obsessions (troublesome and intrusive thoughts) and/or compulsions (repetitive behaviors or rituals such as handwashing, counting, checking to see if doors are locked) which are often seen as senseless but which interfere with a youngster's daily functioning.
5. Depression-lasting feelings of sadness, helplessness, hopelessness, unworthiness and guilt, inability to feel pleasure, a decline in school work and changes in sleeping and eating habits.
6. Eating disorder-either self-starvation (anorexia nervosa) or binge eating and vomiting (bulimia), or a combination of the two.
7. Bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder-periods of depression alternating with manic periods, which may include irritability, "high" or happy mood, excessive energy, behavior problems, staying up late at night, and grand plans.
8. Psychosis-symptoms include irrational beliefs, paranoia, hallucinations (seeing things or hearing sounds that don't exist) social withdrawal, clinging, strange behavior, extreme stubbornness, persistent rituals, and deterioration of personal habits. May be seen in developmental disorders, severe depression, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, and some forms of substance abuse.
9. Autism-(or other pervasive developmental disorder such as Asperger's Syndrome)-characterized by severe deficits in social interactions, language, and/or thinking or ability to learn, and usually diagnosed in early childhood.
10. Severe aggression-which may include assaultiveness, excessive property damage, or prolonged self-abuse, such as head-banging or cutting.
11. Sleep problems-symptoms can include insomnia, night terrors, sleep walking, fear of separation, anxiety. |
This is the result of allowing parents to put their children on mind-altering medication as easily as we currently do. Almost any even remotely objectionable childhood behavior becomes instead a mental illness and is subject to medication. Then, unsurprisingly, for-profit industry starts mass diagnosing children and prescribing medication for them, and from there does all it can to expand the market.
Putting children on mind-altering medication for things like wetting the bed, sleep walking, short attention span, decline in school work, changes in eating or sleeping habits, and so forth seems like madness. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
Regarding children and medication for mental illness, on the other hand, there's a much simpler and easier solution: either illegalize it or at least severely restrict it. |
I completely agree. A very close friend was put on a drug called Accutane at age 15 cause his face was covered in zits. They went away but he's been totally different ever since. He went from normal to very strange over night. To this day he is unable to keep eye contact even with family. I just wiki'd the drug to find the spelling and discovered that in the 80's (long before he took it) there was:
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| a relationship between isotretinoin administration and the onset of psychological symptoms including depression, suicidal ideation, and psychosis. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotretinoin#Depression
That's nice.
What's a good long term study for measuring harm? 5 years? 50 years? Could a drug taken at 5years old cause problems at 80 years old? Maybe chemical intervention with kids should be reserved for life/death stuff like cancer. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:12 am Post subject: |
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| A Canadian study showed that young teachers who had little experience around rowdy boys were more likely to report these children as having serious behavior disorders than older more experienced teacher who saw them as just rowdy boys. the ritalin "wars" have been going on for some time. I think it is a crime the over medication of children. The parents are also to blame. Autism is just a catch phrase not a diagnosis. |
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Space Bar
Joined: 20 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:13 am Post subject: |
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| The most important cause of the increase in autism diagnoses was the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, a federal law that required states to provide suitable education to autistics and to create registries for them. |
This is why so many kids are being placed on meds. A lower-class family receiving $700/mo SSI for their kid with autism requires he be treated with medication. This may represent over half the family's income. They'd be hard-pressed to give up the meds - and the money.
| Quote: |
Medication may be prescribed for psychiatric symptoms and disorders, including, but not limited to:
1. Bedwetting-if it persists regularly after age 5 and causes serious problems in low self-esteem and social interaction.
2. Anxiety (school refusal, phobias, separation or social fears, generalized anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorders)-if it keeps the youngster from normal daily activities.
3. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-marked by a short attention span, trouble concentrating and restlessness. The child is easily upset and frustrated, often has problems getting along with family and friends, and usually has trouble in school.
4. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)-recurring obsessions (troublesome and intrusive thoughts) and/or compulsions (repetitive behaviors or rituals such as handwashing, counting, checking to see if doors are locked) which are often seen as senseless but which interfere with a youngster's daily functioning.
5. Depression-lasting feelings of sadness, helplessness, hopelessness, unworthiness and guilt, inability to feel pleasure, a decline in school work and changes in sleeping and eating habits.
6. Eating disorder-either self-starvation (anorexia nervosa) or binge eating and vomiting (bulimia), or a combination of the two.
7. Bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder-periods of depression alternating with manic periods, which may include irritability, "high" or happy mood, excessive energy, behavior problems, staying up late at night, and grand plans.
8. Psychosis-symptoms include irrational beliefs, paranoia, hallucinations (seeing things or hearing sounds that don't exist) social withdrawal, clinging, strange behavior, extreme stubbornness, persistent rituals, and deterioration of personal habits. May be seen in developmental disorders, severe depression, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, and some forms of substance abuse.
9. Autism-(or other pervasive developmental disorder such as Asperger's Syndrome)-characterized by severe deficits in social interactions, language, and/or thinking or ability to learn, and usually diagnosed in early childhood.
10. Severe aggression-which may include assaultiveness, excessive property damage, or prolonged self-abuse, such as head-banging or cutting.
11. Sleep problems-symptoms can include insomnia, night terrors, sleep walking, fear of separation, anxiety. |
With few exceptions, the only conditions I'd prescribe psychotropic medications to pre-pubertal children would be psychosis and severe aggression. Note that autism in its Pervasive Developmental Disorder form is sometimes known as "childhood schizophrenia" and may also respond to treatment with anti-psychotics. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:45 am Post subject: |
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| This is why so many kids are being placed on meds. A lower-class family receiving $700/mo SSI for their kid with autism requires he be treated with medication. This may represent over half the family's income. They'd be hard-pressed to give up the meds - and the money. |
This needs to change. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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sallymonster
Joined: 06 Feb 2010
Location: Seattle area
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Can any one see a problem if government is the entity which decides who gets the anti-psychotics?" |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TwdsYVHjGA
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| People & Power investigates fraud and corruption running through the veins of the US pharmaceutical industry. |
24min long, from AJ. Very informative. |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/#41480350
The hunt for a female Viagra.
First create the disorder (the market) and then introduce the drug to fix the disorder. |
Unless you can prove that the drug companies had a hand in creating any of the many variables that cause women to lose interest in sex*, I don't see how you can justify your assertion that they created the disorder.
*The clip you posted shows a list of symptoms for this 'new' disorder, never denies that these symptoms actually occur in women, claims that women suffer from psychological rather than physical medical conditions that cause these symptoms, condemns American culture for creating these psychological conditions, and yet still goes on to place the blame at the feet of the drug companies... not just for creating a disorder that apparently the American culture created, but also for not devoting their time and resources to curing cancer! I guess I'm also to blame since I'm here teaching English in Korea rather than sitting in a lab back home staring into a microscope.
Seriously, there's plenty to blame drug companies for, but this isn't one of them. |
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Space Bar
Joined: 20 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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| rollo wrote: |
| Can any one see a problem if government is the entity which decides who gets the anti-psychotics?" |
Yes. The government did not graduate from medical school and complete a residency in psychiatry, nor does it maintain continuing medical education credits. |
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