Mom fights for custody after giving sick 3-year-old pot, stands by decision

http://abc7chicago.com/news/mom-fights-for-custody-after-giving-sick-3-year-old-pot-stands-by-decision/1575738/

Kelsey Osborne is heartbroken, as her daughter and son have been taken from their home, while Osborne fights a misdemeanor injury to child charge.

“She was begging me to save her that she was going to die,” said Osborne. “She said she loved her dad and Mike and me and her step mom, and she started going in to a seizure, her eyes locked to the side of her head, she couldn’t move.”

Osborne’s 3-year-old daughter Madyson was suffering from a seizure, something doctors have not found the cause of.

When Osborne was told to wait several hours before the next doctor’s appointment, she made a tough decision, one that has now gone viral.

“At about 11 o’ clock is when I decided with my knowledge of cannabis, I was going to give her just a tiny bit in a smoothie and butter and it helped her,” said Osborne. “Thirty minutes later, she stopped having seizures and she stopped hallucinating.”

At the doctor’s office, a battery of tests were run to figure out the cause, one of which came back positive for THC.

That’s when the Department of Health and Welfare were called as part of protocol and Child Protective Services got involved.

Currently, her two children, Madyson and Ryker are staying with their father, and Osborne is allowed supervised visitation.

“I was sitting there thinking, I know this will help her and I know I can get in trouble for it, but this is my daughter’s life,” said Osborne.

KMVT reports that nine states will have marijuana reform on their November 8th ballot, but Idaho is not one of them.

For this mother, she says something has to change.

“This is her home, I’ve always been her main caregiver to my children since day one, I feel like at least medicinal should be legalized in Idaho,” said Osborne.

Filed under: General Problems | 3 Comments »

Response to Letter from the Surgeon General

http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=29588

In late August, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD wrote to 2.3 million physicians asking for their help in solving the opioid epidemic. By doing so Dr. Murthy joined a distinguished list of Surgeon Generals who have spoken out about critical public health issues. Some of America’s “top docs” who stand out in my mind are Luther Terry who in 1964 spoke about the dangers of tobacco; C. Everett Koop who in 1988 helped America understand the AIDS epidemic and quieted some of the panic that was surrounding it at that time; and David Satcher who in 2000 drew much needed attention to mental illness in the U.S. Let us hope that Dr. Murthy’s letter and his “Turn the Tide Campaign” will have the positive effect that those I’ve mentioned had on the health and well-being of our society.
 
Without question, physicians and others who prescribe opioids need better education about the safe use of opioids. They also need tools and resources to help them do a better job of treating pain. I completely agree with Dr. Murthy that substance use disorder/opioid addiction “is a chronic illness, not a moral failing.”  I believe the very same statement is true about chronic pain — another public health epidemic which is not mentioned in the Surgeon General’s letter other than to suggest that efforts by physicians to improve pain care have caused the opioid epidemic.
 
There are no data to substantiate this claim. Nor is there data to inform policy makers and other advocates about the rate of iatrogenic addiction, i.e., addiction that results from medication prescribed for legitimate medical reasons, although various rates are being pitched about irresponsibly in my opinion. Furthermore, I do not believe it is helpful to even suggest that efforts to improve pain care in the U.S. are the cause of the opioid epidemic.
 
We have research validating that a comprehensive chronic pain management model is called for; however, public and private insurers have been unwilling to fund this model because it is expensive on the front-end even though there are tremendous long term cost savings. This is understandable from the perspective of private payers who are subject to plan “members” rotating out of plans frequently but short-sighted and inexcusable for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
 
Just reducing opioid prescribing will not resolve the opioid epidemic. These efforts are already making it more difficult for those who struggle to live with chronic pain and rely on opioid therapy to receive the care they need. As reported by various sources, prescriptions for opioids have declined for each of the past three years. It is noteworthy that, at the same time, the rate of addiction has continued to rise.  I’m well aware that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director, Dr. Tom Frieden, has claimed that “prescription opiates are a gateway drug,” but again, we have no data to substantiate that claim.

It is a shame that as national leaders like Drs. Murthy, Frieden and Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Silvia Burwell continue their important efforts to address the opioid epidemic, they do not, at the same time, talk about the chronic pain epidemic that leads to disability, poverty and even death for tens of millions of Americans. Several years ago, PAINS leaders were encouraged by former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and her leadership team to recognize the correlation between these two public health problems, i.e., chronic pain and opioid addiction, and to address them in a coordinated manner. We believe that she was absolutely right and have worked to develop relationships with substance use disorder advocates.
 
Let me be clear. PAINS is not advocating for the status quo. We know that opioid therapy alone is woefully inadequate for addressing pain. These medications are life-saving for some who live with chronic pain; there are also significant risks associated with them, and they must be used prudently. As one national leader in pain and addiction said recently, “Opioids are powerful medications; they are powerful in healing and powerful in harm.” Furthermore, it is well known that opioids do not work for many to whom they are prescribed and that the reduction of pain for those who do receive benefit from them is only about 30%. That benefit, however, may be the difference between life and death for those for whom pain consumes their every waking moment.
 
PAINS calls on Dr. Murthy to pledge to use the power of his office to educate the American public about chronic pain as a disease, the relationship between chronic pain and opioid addiction and the need for comprehensive chronic pain care. We also call on others at HHS to include moving from a biomedical chronic pain care model, i.e., opioid therapy, interventional procedures and surgeries, to a comprehensive chronic pain care approach as a major strategy in their efforts to address the opioid epidemic.
 
Comprehensive chronic pain care will improve the quality of life for millions of Americans, save billions of dollars each year, and reduce opioid prescribing.

Filed under: General Problems | 4 Comments »

After years of criticism, FDA tries to step up oversight of medical devices

A new site launched by the Food and Drug Administration tells people how to report wrongdoing in a controversial industry.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/afer-years-of-criticism-fda-tries-to-step-up-oversight-of-medical-devices-102716.html

Makers of medical devices face such little scrutiny from the Food and Drug Administration that even a 2011 Institute of Medicine report, commissioned by none other than the Food and Drug Administration, described the agency’s medical device evaluation process as “fatally flawed.”

Even worse, the FDA has reportedly allowed device-makers to flout the few regulations that they are supposed to follow.  

The device, used in back surgery, is now the subject of thousands of personal injury complaints. “The FDA raised no issues about the late reporting and blacked out the total number of events from the three-sentence summary that became public,” the Star-Tribune report says. “That number was revealed just months ago, after the Star Tribune challenged an FDA decision to keep it secret.”

In a lengthy statement, the FDA tells ConsumerAffairs that it had granted an exemption to Medtronic and defended the company’s actions.

“FDA’s allowance of a summary report in certain circumstances, under the relevant regulation, is both appropriate and in the best interests of the public health,” the statement says in part. “Such summary reporting can create practical efficiencies by reducing data entry and FDA staff review time of information that is already well-understood about a particular device.” 

Medtronic did not respond to a ConsumerAffairs request for comment on this story.

Multiple companies

Zuckerman’s complaints aren’t new. In 2014, three years after the FDA’s Institute of Medicine panel called its regulatory process for devices flawed, Zuckerman lead a separate study claiming that there is scant public research to back up the safety of many FDA-approved medical devices. The agency has repeatedly contested such critical findings.

Criticism invited

But recent actions by the FDA now suggest the agency may finally be taking some of the criticisms of its device regulation to heart. On October 21, the FDA launched a new online program to encourage anyone, from patients to doctors, to report misconduct by medical device-makers.

“The webpage is not in response to any recent news articles,” FDA spokesman Stephanie Caccomo tells ConsumerAffairs via email. “The webpage was developed to provide the public with more information on allegations of regulatory misconduct related to medical devices and provide clear instructions for reporting to the FDA.” For public health watchdogs like Zuckerman, whether the FDA’s new program will have teeth remains to be seen.

The FDA’s new site, “Reporting Allegations of Regulatory Misconduct,”  specifically singles out medical devices and instructs people to report anonymously if they wish to do so. “Anyone may file a complaint reporting an allegation of regulatory misconduct,” the FDA says, with instructions on how to submit complaints via email or hard mail.

The FDA’s website launch coincides with a separate agency crackdown on medical devices, this one relating to hospitals and their responbility in reporting device failures. The FDA on October 24 published an online report calling out 15 hospitals for failing to report adverse events related to medical devices in an appropriate manner or correct timeframe.

The hospitals include high-profile facilities with stellar reputations such as Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.  “On June 25, Cedars-Sinai voluntarily reported to the FDA and the manufacturer that a surgical stapler device had malfunctioned during a surgical procedure on June 5, resulting in bleeding and requiring that sutures–the traditional method for surgical closer–be used instead,” the hospital says in a statement. But Cedars-Sinai only reported the incident through the FDA’s form for voluntary reporting. Instead, they should have reported the problem through the FDA’s form for mandatory reporting, or Form 3500A, because of the serious consequences such a device malfunction could have caused, the hospital says. 

Rather than punish the hospitals, the FDA explains that they want to work with them to develop better reporting procedures for device injuries. “FDA is looking to improve the way we work with hospitals to modernize and streamline data collection about medical devices,” wrote Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, the agency’s director for the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, in a recent blog post.

For watchdogs like Zuckerman, the FDA’s new site soliciting allegations of abuse in the medical device industry is an encouraging step, but only on paper for now.  Though the new policy “sounds great,” she says, “will it make a difference? Will the FDA finally stop treating device companies like their favorite customers and remember that patients and consumers are their most important customers? …More importantly, will FDA finally decide that they will no longer allow device companies to ignore patient safety?”

Filed under: General Problems | 3 Comments »

We Can’t Let the Government Become Our Pain Doctors

https://themighty.com/2016/10/chronic-pain-patients-response-to-dea-reduction-of-opioids/

The U.S. government has decided to limit the production of prescription opioids by 25 percent next year and many chronic pain patients are in a panic. The government and the Drug Enforcement Administration seem to have lost all common sense and are punishing pain patients for crimes they haven’t committed. They haven’t started a war on opioids, I believe they have made a decision and are manipulating statistics in order to back up their ridiculous decision.

Overdoses as a result of heroin and fentanyl use have increased over the past few years and the government’s knee-jerk reaction is to limit the amount of pain medications manufactured. Does that seem logical to anyone?

This is a hot topic in all of my chronic pain and fibromyalgia groups and the biggest response I see is, “We take our pain medication because we have pain. We don’t feel high, we feel normal when we take our meds!”

But I’m also concerned about what might happen if people’s pain meds are stripped. When the crackdown on Florida pain clinics happened in 2011, heroin deaths rose by 39 percent.

So what are we supposed to do? For many people, yoga and physical therapy do little to nothing for chronic pain, but I’m afraid soon that will be our only option. The government is being reckless in its law-making. Just as people with other conditions need their medication, pain patients need and deserve treatment. The DEA refuses to reschedule marijuana which has multiple medical uses and there are no documented deaths from overdose. The DEA is also still deciding whether or not to schedule and effectively ban kratom, another natural plant that is used to treat chronic pain. If we had access to options like these, I believe there would be fewer pain med prescriptions being written and even fewer deaths.

The government does not acknowledge that there is a difference between addiction and dependence. I openly and honestly depend on my pain medication. Without it I can’t work or perform normal functions around the house or go for walks with my children. Am I addicted? Absolutely not. I take my medication exactly as my doctor prescribes it and take no illegal drugs. But the government is positioned to take away my quality of life and I am scared. We are all scared and have no voice. We have no say in the matter. It’s the government’s way or the highway. It’s like the government is shrugging off all the downsides of limiting opioid use and saying, “Yeah, but at least there are 25 percent less opioid prescriptions out there!”

This is happening and the government is bulldozing the chronic pain community. They have created a culture of fear and now many doctors are too afraid to treat their patients and patients are too afraid to speak up for themselves. If we speak too loudly we may be labeled a pill seeker and an addict. The government is not my doctor and my medication should be a decision between me and my own doctor. I will not stay silent in the fight for my quality of life and neither should you.

We want to hear your story. Become a Mighty contributor here.

Filed under: General Problems | 3 Comments »

Methylphenidate Hydrochloride Extended Release Tablets (generic Concerta) made by Mallinckrodt and Kudco

http://www.fda.gov/drugs/drugsafety/ucm422568.htm

The FDA is proposing to withdraw approval of two generic versions of Concerta (methylphenidate hydrochloride) extended-release (ER) capsules, used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.  Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and UCB/Kremers Urban (formerly Kudco) the companies that make the generic products, have failed to demonstrate that their products provide the same therapeutic effect as (are bioequivalent to) the brand-name drug they reference. 

This action is related to steps the FDA took in November 2014.  At that time, the FDA announced that, based on an analysis of data, it had concerns that the Mallinckrodt and Kudco (now UCB/Kremers Urban) products may not produce the same therapeutic effects as Concerta.  At that time, the FDA requested that Mallinckrodt and Kudco either (1) voluntarily withdraw their products from the market and request that FDA withdraw approval of their product’s Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) or (2) within six months, provide data to confirm that their products are bioequivalent to Concerta consistent with the revised draft guidance for industry for bioequivalence testing for these products.

At that time, the FDA changed the Orange Book therapeutic equivalence code for these two products  from AB (indicating therapeutic equivalence) to BX (data are insufficient to determine therapeutic equivalence).

Neither Mallinckrodt nor UCB/Kremers Urban has voluntarily withdrawn its product from the market, and neither has provided data confirming its product’s bioequivalence consistent with the revised recommendations.  Accordingly, the FDA is proposing to withdraw approval of the products’ ANDAs and is announcing an opportunity for the firms to request a hearing on the proposal.  As part of this process, the FDA is publishing Notices of Opportunity for Hearing (NOOHs) on its Proposals to Withdraw Marketing Approval in the Federal Register. If approval of these ANDAs is withdrawn by the FDA, the products will no longer be able to be marketed in the U.S.

Each NOOH explains that the firm may request a hearing to show why approval of their ANDA should not be withdrawn and has the opportunity to raise, for administrative determination, all issues relating to the legal status of the drug products covered by these applications. Each firm must respond in writing, within 30 days, to request a hearing. If the firm fails to do so, the opportunity for a hearing will be waived.

During the course of this process, the FDA will update the related Mallinckrodt and UCB/Kremers Urban dockets as new information becomes available.

The Mallinckrodt UCB/Kremers Urban products are still approved and can be prescribed, but they are not recommended as automatically substitutable for Concerta.  Janssen manufactures an authorized generic of Concerta, which is marketed by Actavis under a licensing agreement. The Actavis product is not impacted by this announcement.

If you or your health care professional are concerned that a methylphenidate hydrochloride ER product you are taking is not providing the desired effect, and you do not know the manufacturer, contact the pharmacy where the prescription was filled to verify the product’s manufacturer. If you, or those under your care, are taking the Mallinckrodt or Kudco products and have concerns about lack of desired effect during the dosing period, contact the prescribing health care provider to discuss whether a different drug product would be more appropriate.

[11-13-2014] FDA concerns about therapeutic equivalence with two generic versions of Concerta tablets (methylphenidate hydrochloride extended-release)

Based on an analysis of data, FDA has concerns about whether or not two approved generic versions of Concerta tablets (methylphenidate hydrochloride extended-release tablets), used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults and children, are therapeutically equivalent to the brand-name drug. The two approved generic versions of Concerta are manufactured by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and Kudco Ireland Ltd. 

FDA has not identified any serious safety concerns with these two generic products.  Patients should not make changes to their treatment except in consultation with their health care professional.

If you or your health care professional are concerned the drug product is not providing the desired effect and you do not know the manufacturer, contact the pharmacy where the prescription was filled to verify the product’s manufacturer.  If you, or those under your care, are taking the Mallinckrodt or Kudco products and have concerns about lack of desired effect during the dosing period, contact the prescribing health care provider to discuss whether or not a different drug product would be more appropriate.

FDA’s Scientific Evaluation of Generic Concerta Products

An analysis of adverse event reports, an internal FDA re-examination of previously submitted data, and FDA laboratory tests of products manufactured by Mallinckrodt and Kudco have raised concerns that the products may not produce the same therapeutic benefits for some patients as the brand-name product, Concerta, manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Janssen also manufactures an authorized Concerta generic, which is marketed by Actavis under a licensing agreement and is identical to Janssen’s Concerta.  FDA included the authorized generic in its analysis and found it to be bioequivalent to, and substitutable for, Concerta.  Apart from the Mallinckrodt, Kudco, and Actavis products, there are no other generics for Concerta.

Methylphenidate hydrochloride extended-release products approved as generics for Concerta are intended to release the drug in the body over a period of 10 to 12 hours. This should allow for a single-dose product that is consistent with the effect of a three times per day dose of immediate-release methylphenidate hydrochloride.

In some individuals, the Mallinckrodt and Kudco products may deliver drug in the body at a slower rate during the 7- to 12-hour range. The diminished release rate may result in patients not having the desired effect.
   

As a result, the FDA has changed the therapeutic equivalence (TE) rating for the Mallinckrodt and Kudco products from AB to BX. This means the Mallinckrodt and Kudco products are still approved and can be prescribed, but are no longer recommended as automatically substitutable at the pharmacy (or by a pharmacist) for Concerta. 

Consequently, FDA has revised its draft guidance for industry for bioequivalence testing for methylphenidate hydrochloride extended-release tablets (Concerta). FDA has asked that within six months, Mallinckrodt and Kudco confirm the bioequivalence of their products using the revised bioequivalence standards, or voluntarily withdraw their products from the market.

FDA will continue to evaluate its testing and approval standards and bioequivalence guidances for other generic methylphenidate hydrochloride extended-release products and revise as needed.

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

FDA Funds Study of Therapies for Pain, Addiction, Sedation

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/research/blog/October-1/FDA-Funds-Study-of-Therapies-for-Pain-Addiction-Se.aspx

A team led by Robert H. Dworkin, Ph.D., professor in the department of Anesthesiology has been awarded five years of funding from the FDA for up to $4 million to speed the discovery and development of analgesic, anesthetic, addiction and peripheral neuropathy treatments for patients. The award continues the work of the ACTTION public-private partnership, which was initiated by the FDA, Dworkin and Dennis Turk, Ph.D., from the University of Washington in 2010. 

ACTTION, which stands for Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks, studies different approaches to improve the methods used to evaluate and approve safe and effective treatments for patients who have few or no options. The work is greatly needed: in the last decade, very few truly new therapies have been approved by the FDA for acute or chronic pain. In addition, individuals with diabetic peripheral neuropathy or chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy have no disease-modifying treatment options. The few existing treatments in addiction medicine lack strong safety and efficacy profiles, and though adequate sedation approaches exist, many are old and companies are unsure of the best way to test new methods.  

The ACTTION team’s focus will be the assessment of outcome measures and clinical trial designs. One major undertaking is making the pain scale, which patients use to rate their pain from 0 to 10, more “user friendly” so that patients’ responses more accurately and consistently reflect their pain experience. An improved pain scale will allow researchers to better gauge the efficacy of new treatments. Another is defining “success” in clinical trials of treatments for stimulant addiction: is a therapy considered successful if a patient addicted to cocaine becomes abstinent, or reduces cocaine use by 50 percent? These and many other questions will be addressed through extensive data review, carefully designed studies and consensus meetings.

ACTTION involves the collaboration of public and private organizations, including professional societies, patient advocacy groups, industry and government. The group recently published its sixtieth journal article. In addition to Dworkin, Denham S. Ward, M.D., Ph.D., professor emeritus and past chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Jennifer Gewandter, Ph.D. and Shannon Smith, Ph.D., both assistant professors of Anesthesiology, participate in ACTTION.

Filed under: General Problems | 2 Comments »

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

The CDC SPIDER bites! CDC Whistleblowers Team Up and Demand “House Cleaning” and Lend Credence to Increasingly Critical Views of Authority Structures

globalfreedommovement.org/the-biggest-medical-whistleblower-event-in-history-just-happened/

While the mainstream media and medical/Big Pharma spokespeople were doing their best to ignore the raging conflagration that is the VAXXED phenomenon and pretend it isn’t happening, another major blow was just struck against the entrenched liars in politics claiming across-the-board “safety” and “zero risk” of vaccines (see: Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy). CDC whistleblower/confessor William Thompson – the primary subject of the VAXXED documentary – appears to have triggered somewhat of a whistleblower avalanche following his explosive confession that he and his superiors literally binned (yes, threw in the trash) hard evidence linking vaccines to autism, thus vindicating the work of numerous scientists around the world who have detected such causal connections.

This most recent blow against such malfeasance and criminal conspiracy consists of a letter addressed to Chief of Staff Carmen Villa at the CDC and signed off on by a group of at least a dozen disenchanted/fed up CDC scientists identifying themselves as SPIDER (CDC Scientists Preserving Integrity, Diligence and Ethics in Research).

CDC SPIDER constitutes the biggest whistleblower event we’ve ever seen, bigger even than Thompson’s disturbing and compelling confession of conspiracy and coverup at the highest levels. The latest bombshell reveals (read: confirms once more) that the corruption and complicity are not anomalies, but entrenched systemic problems.

SPIDER’s August 29, 2016 plaintive demand opens with this extremely revealing paragraph (emphasis added):

We are a group of scientists at CDC that are very concerned about the current state of ethics at our agency.  It appears that our mission is being influenced and shaped by outside parties and rogue interests. It seems that our mission and Congressional intent for our agency is being circumvented by some of our leaders.  What concerns us most, is that it is becoming the norm and not the rare exception.  Some senior management officials at CDC are clearly aware and even condone these behaviors.  Others see it and turn the other way.  Some staff are intimidated and pressed to do things they know are not right.  We have representatives from across the agency that witness this unacceptable behavior.  It occurs at all levels and in all of our respective units…We are asking that you do your part to help clean up this house!

Let’s decode some key phrases:

• “Outside parties and rogue interests.” =  Big Pharma and general corporate whores with connections to (or jobs in) these key agencies (CDC, AMA, etc.). It’s well known that there is a revolving door between massive pharmaceutical corporations and government agencies, such that “outside parties” tend to become “internal parties” and vice versa. The governmental arena has been thoroughly infiltrated by these “rogue interests,” to the extent that such interests control policy creation itself.
• “…becoming the norm and not the rare exception.” – Well, let’s be real: this problem became normative a long time ago. Their statement shows that ALL authoritative claims around health/medical issues/medical interventions made by authorities such as the CDC or AMA should be viewed with suspicion and investigated thoroughly instead of taken prima facie (at face value). In other words, CDC and other such government agencies lie… a lot.
• “Some senior management officials…even condone these behaviors.” – Because they are paid handsomely to sell humanity out to the highest bidder, whether Big Pharma, Coke, or what have you. Senior management condoning this activity creates a top-down systemic problem that poisons the entire barrel, so to speak. A strained climate of pressure to “go along to get along” ensues. The public’s suspicion of such agencies is thus well justified.
• “It occurs at all levels and in all of our respective units.” I.e., no part of the CDC apparatus remains untainted by this repugnant corruption (See: William Thompson’s confession). It is all-pervasive and, frankly, we have no reason at all to believe this problem is restricted – as if by magic – to just the CDC. Parallel government agencies with similar or related functions are just as compromised. Truth is a minor concern (or even just plain problematical) for these corrupt elements whose primary interest appears largely to be lining their pockets with a lot of cash.

The SPIDER letter also outlines some other issues, including data manipulation by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the Wise Woman Program in order to present misleading results to Congress (“to make the results look better than they were.”) As they said, “definitions were changed and data ‘cooked’” – now where have we heard about definitions being changed before? Ah, yes, POLIO (but that’s another scandal for another day).

SPIDER added:

An “internal review” that involved staff across CDC occurred and its findings were essentially suppressed so media and/or Congressional staff would not become aware of the problems.

SPIDER also singled out Drs. Barbara Bowman and Michael Pratt for their “irregular (if not questionable) relationships with Coca­Cola and ILSI representatives.  Neither of these relationships were necessary (or appropriate) to uphold our mission.  Neither organization added any value to the good work and science already underway at CDC…It appears to us that something very strange is going on with Dr. Pratt…His behavior and that of management surrounding this is very troubling.”

Carey Gillam reported on the notorious Bowman and dubious Pratt (whose surname seems apt):

It’s all merely the tip of a corrupt and fetid iceberg, folks.

Finally, the CDC SPIDER letter closes with:

Why has the CDC OD turned a blind eye to these things.  The lack of respect for science and scientists that support CDC’s legacy is astonishing. Please do the right thing.
Please be an agent of change.
Respectfully,
CDC Spider
(CDC Scientists Preserving Integrity, Diligence and Ethics in Research)

Remember, fellow change agents: it is agencies such as the CDC, AMA, TGA, etc. that are orchestrating the war on natural/”complementary” medicine. It is these outlets that are enacting Big Pharma’s modern day Inquisition against natural healing and demonizing those modalities and their practitioners at every opportunity, employing the lap dog mainstream media to great effect. Simultaneously they engineer a cult-like mentality in the public at large, touting the unquestionable “benefits” of various mainstream interventions while aggressively discouraging any free thinking or critical analysis. Anyone who points out the well documented risks or harms resulting from said “wonderful” interventions is mocked and ostracised in the most juvenile form of groupthink imaginable. Welcome to 1984, 2016 style.

Beware the players with the deepest pockets – they have the motive and the means for distorting collective reality and convincing millions of us that black is white and 2 + 2 = 5.

I’m pretty sure that 2 + 2 = 4, even when it’s not “PC,” and even when our government agencies and ministers insist the answer is “5.”

Not to worry – there are legal means of dealing with their mendacity and complicity.

The truth will out.

About the Author

Co-founder of Global Freedom Movement and host of GFM Media, Brendan D. Murphy is a leading Australian author, researcher, activist, and musician. His acclaimed non-fiction epic The Grand Illusion: A Synthesis of Science & Spirituality – Book 1 is available here. Come and get your mind blown and DNA/kundalini activated at www.brendandmurphy.net
“Brendan is the Chomsky of the Spiritual movement.” – Alistair Larmour, medical intuitive
“Every person in the field of ‘paranormal’ psychology or related topics should have this book as a major reference.” – Dr. Buryl Payne
“A masterpiece…The Grand Illusion is mind-blowing.” – Sol Luckman, author of Potentiate Your DNA.
“You’ve written the best synthesis of modern science and esoteric science that I’ve seen in 40 years…Brilliant!” – Michael K. Wade

Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »

Apparently some people believe that I am VERY PRO-TRUMP… when I am really VERY ANTI-CLINTON… but I looked at this post that was done two weeks ago and only TWELVE people viewed it. If you think that having another ATTORNEY in the White House – that will be supportive of the legal system/DEA –  and most likely keep the current AG, head of DEA and Surgeon General and continue the path that Obama has created and your pain management and quality of life will get better and not worse.. then vote for going down that path…  It is obvious to me that “the establishment” will do just about anything – legal/illegal – to keep “the establishment” in power… political party really doesn’t matter to them. All we have to do is look back a couple of decades to see how this has worked out for most of us.

There is a difference between anti-Clinton and pro-Trump

Filed under: General Problems | 3 Comments »

The Third-Leading Cause Of Death Is Preventable, But Candidates Don’t Mention It

http://www.forbes.com/sites/leahbinder/2016/10/26/the-third-leading-cause-of-death-is-preventable-but-candidates-dont-mention-it/#6626222f530e

Leah Binder ,  

Contributor

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

 It is more likely to kill you than terrorism. It has profoundly impacted virtually every American family. So this election year, why aren’t politicians at all levels of government talking about the third-leading cause of death in America—preventable errors in healthcare?

The statistics are staggering: more than 500 patients per day are killed by errors, accidents and infections in hospitals alone. Medical errors kill more people annually than breast cancer, AIDS or drug overdoses. One in four Medicare beneficiaries admitted to a hospital suffers some form of preventable harm during their stay. And yet, it’s nowhere to be found in those stump speeches.

Shutterstock

There are a few reasons for the silence. First is all about the illogical way Americans pay for health care. With the traditional “fee for service” model, we pay for procedures and tests—not outcomes. It means we also pay for medical mistakes. If you got the wrong medication in post-op, chances are no doctor or nurse will tell you about it. But it will show up on your bill, alongside the charges for any other intervention required to treat your adverse reaction. Considering that deciphering these bills is akin to reading hieroglyphics, many of us are victims of medical mistakes without even realizing it.

Another reason we may not hear much about it is that our political candidates are not eager to annoy deep-pocketed supporters. Last year, the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector was the top lobbying industry in Washington, spending $240 million—twice as much as Big Oil. At the local level, hospitals are often one of the largest employers in a community, a pillar of almost every congressional district. While many healthcare leaders are outspoken and bold proponents of change, some are embarrassed by the errors and would prefer their politicians not dwell on it.

Just this summer, CMS faced enormous backlash after announcing its intention to issue five-star ratings for hospital safety and quality, based on over 60 tested and validated measures. (My organization also assigns grades to hospitals based on data from CMS and our own annual hospital survey). Congress tried to suppress the release of the CMS star ratings, at the urging of the hospital lobby, which argued the measures weren’t perfect and the methodology wasn’t fair. (Fortunately, it didn’t prevail and the ratings were released, albeit a few months behind schedule.)

Finally, how to measure healthcare performance—what data to collect and how to share it—can be as controversial as the current election itself. Most healthcare leaders agree we need measure quality to ensure accountability and improvement, but the agreement stops there. Many leading researchers and organizations like the National Quality Forum, which reviews and validates quality metrics, have helped guide us toward resolving some of these controversies, but the debate rages on.

Curiously, experts even disagree over how to measure the death toll from medical errors. Earlier this year the reputable BMJ released a study showing that medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. But some researchers pushed back, citing concerns about the study’s definition of medical error. This led to a distracting and disheartening series of arguments in the medical literature about which errors outright kill patients and which merely hasten a patient’s inevitable decline. Can’t we agree that even one preventable patient death is one too many? And everyone agrees that at a minimum the death toll is in the thousands.

The good news that candidates should embrace is that this problem can be solved, and it’s not expensive to do so. The administrations of Presidents Bush and Obama made substantial moves to shift Medicare away from the bloated fee-for-service model. Many employers and other purchasers of health benefits have taken similarly bold steps. A good number of hospitals and health systems have dramatically improved their safety records by making patient well-being a top priority. That means they enforce rules about hand hygiene or surgical checklists, and follow known best practices for protecting their patients. As a result of this progress, deaths and injuries from infections and errors are down, particularly in high-performing health systems. But too many Americans remain at serious risk.

Solving this requires putting a priority on patients. Elected officials, health systems and business leaders showed us results by embracing that priority. Now it’s time for our candidates to do the same.

Filed under: General Problems | 3 Comments »