Power Morcellators No Longer Favored by Doctors for Hysterectomies
Power Morcellation Is No Longer The Procedure Of Choice. Power Morcellators Causing Cancer. After numerous studies the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that grinding up uterine tumors with power morcellation may spread cancer. As a result, doctors actually stopped using power morcellators. Since 1991, doctors and … [Read more...]
Doctors Families Concerned about Increasing Price of EpiPens
The Price Tag of EpiPens. EpiPens are auto-injectors that could mean the difference between life-and-death during an allergic reaction. They are the most commonly prescribed auto-injector on the market, and used by both adults and children with severe allergies. The increasing price tag, however, has some doctors and families … [Read more...]
Federal Data Shows Medtronic Continues to Pay Doctors in Connection with InFuse Spinal Fusion Device
Data available through the federal Open Payments database show that device maker Medtronic continues to pay millions of dollars to doctors whose research on the InFuse spinal fusion device has been called into question. Medtronic’s spine division, Medtronic Sofamor Danek, paid $60.7 million in royalties to 79 doctors and their … [Read more...]
Open Payments Database Details Payments made between Industry and Doctors for 2014
On Tuesday, the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services published the federal Open Payments database for 2014 detailing payments between medical device companies and doctors and hospitals. According to Star Tribune, this is the second year that such data has been published. The data was released under the Open Payments … [Read more...]
Amarin Pharma Sues FDA Over Right to Discuss Off-Label Use of Drugs
Dublin-based Amarin Pharma has sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the right to talk to doctors about unapproved uses for their products, as long as they are being truthful. Drug companies have been fined billions of dollars for talking to doctors about “off-label” uses of their medications, but they argue that they … [Read more...]
Impact of Known Bladder Cancer Risk Linked to Actos
Bladder Cancer Risk Linked to Actos. Executives at Takeda Pharmaceuticals secretly surveyed doctors about a decade ago to determine if they would prescribe a drug that was linked to cancer, the most troubling side effect of its top-selling drug, Actos. According to a Bloomberg report, the company asked a dozen doctors back in 2003 … [Read more...]
Confused Doctors On IUD Safety For Contraception
IUD Safety For Contraception. A new study shows that many physicians across the country may not be aware of the risks associated with using interuterine devices (IUDs), like the Mirena, as a form of contraception. This lack of current knowledge regarding the safe and effective use of IUDs turns into misinformation relayed to women … [Read more...]
Are Frackers Trying to Gag Doctors?
Physicians Hit By Frackers 'Gag Rule'. Doctors in Pennsylvania believe a “gag order” imposed on them by state law limits their ability to practice medicine and treat patients and is likely to result in a public health problem. The “gag order” imposed on doctors prohibits them from fully discussing a patient’s potentially or … [Read more...]
U.K. Doctors Given Additional Guidance for Metal-on-Metal Hip Implant Patients
Recalled DePuy Metal-on-Metal Hip Implant. Doctors in the U.K. are again being advised to follow up with patients who have been fitted with metal on metal hip replacement devices, especially those who have received a recalled DePuy ASR hip implant device, or an implant with a femoral head diameter 36mm. The new guidance from the … [Read more...]
Doctors Criticize St. Jude’s Heavy-Handed Management
St. Jude's vigorous defense of its trouble Riata line of internal defibrillator leads may not be working out as well as it had hoped. According to a report in The New York Times, some doctors have tired of St. Jude's tactics, and would rather the device maker put more effort toward helping patients with defective Riata and Riata ST. … [Read more...]
Doctors Reminded of Victoza Thyroid Tumor, Pancreatitis Risks
It seems many doctors are unaware of the serious side effects that may be associated with the Type II Diabetes drug Victoza. As a result, Novo Nordisk has sent a letter to doctors reminding them that Victoza may be associated with thyroid tumors and acute pancreatitis. Victoza is very similar to Byetta. Both are injectables, and … [Read more...]
Darvon, Darvocet Patients Should Discuss Alternatives With Their Doctors
Darvon, Darvocet Patients Discuss Alternatives. The recent decision to pull the painkillers Darvon and Darvocet from the market because of their association with dangerous, and even fatal heart rhythm problems has caused consternation among people who relied on Darvon and Darvocet to manage chronic pain. But according to a recent … [Read more...]
Avandia Black Box Warning Wasn’t Heeded by All Doctors
Avandia Black Box Warning. Not all doctors are heeding warnings for Avandia. According to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine that used Avandia as an example, model sort vary across the country in response to warnings about medications from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Earlier this fall, the … [Read more...]
Harvard Hospitals Set New Rules for High Ranking Doctors, Executives
New Rules For High Ranking Doctors. High-ranking doctors and executives at two Harvard-affiliated hospitals will no longer be able to receive unlimited compensation or stock in return for sitting on the boards of drug companies or biotechnology firms. According to The Boston Globe, the new restrictions, which were effective last … [Read more...]
FDA Slow To Act On Bad Doctors
FDA Slow To Act On Bad Doctors. A recently released report has found that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not move as quickly as it could in banning health professionals from drug research roles who are known to have convicted crimes, the Wall Street Journal just reported. In one of the cited cases, the agency … [Read more...]
Johns Hopkins Bans Industry Gifts to Doctors
Johns Hopkins University has implemented a new policy to prevent conflicts-of -interest problems. Johns Hopkins University has implemented a new policy to prevent conflicts-of -interest problems between its doctors and the drug and medical device industries. According to The Wall Street Journal, the policy bans free drug samples and … [Read more...]
Medtronic Sprint Fidelis Leads: Doctors, Patients Face Tough Choices
Medtronic Sprint Fidelis Leads. The procedure to remove one of Medtronic Inc.'s defective Sprint Fidelis defibrillator leads is dangerous and complicated. According to a report in The New York Times, because of the risks involved, patients implanted with a Sprint Fidelis lead and their doctors often face difficult choices. A … [Read more...]
Some Doctors Looking to Cut Industry Funding
Doc Group Want To Cut Industry Funding. The number of groups looking to address potential conflicts-of-interests between doctors and the medical products industry continues to increase. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ/The Journal) is reporting that a group of doctors and researchers is now urging medical associations to significantly … [Read more...]
Pfizer to List Payments to Doctors
Pfizer to List Payments. In an effort to make the relationships between itself and medical professionals more transparent, Pfizer has announced that effective early 2010, it plans on disclosing most—not all—of the payments it makes to doctors and other health care practitioners in the United States, reported Reuters. Pfizer will … [Read more...]
Doctors Should Tell Patients When They Prescribe Off-Label
Doctors Prescribed Off-Label Drugs. Doctors Should Tell Patients When They Prescribe Off-Label needed Off-label prescriptions are those prescribed for purposes not approved to by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); off-label prescriptions are not in compliance with the FDA’s approved uses. Regardless, off-label prescribing … [Read more...]
Payments to Joint Implant Doctors Continue
A criminal investigation put a temporary halt on the paychecks of several thousand doctors. About one million Americans will undergo joint replacement surgery in the next year. Given that, consumers might be interested to know how much money their orthopedic surgeon might be receiving from joint replacement makers. Although some … [Read more...]
U of Minnesota Medical School Considers Banning Most Gifts to Doctors
Minnesota Medical School Conflict-of-interest Policies. The University of Minnesota Medical School is considering adopting what would be one of the toughest conflict-of-interest policies in the country. If enacted, the proposed new policy would ban most - if not all - industry gifts to doctors at the school. The ties between drug … [Read more...]
Doctors Often Skip Important Test Before Cardiac Surgery
Studies focused on how to treat patients with clogged arteries. Two new studies report that cardiac patients may fare better by receiving fewer artery-opening stents and that stents tend to be used arbitrarily. Both studies focused on how to treat patients with clogged arteries, a condition known as ischemia, in which patients … [Read more...]
Device Makers and Doctors: Relationships Far Too Cozy
Doctor Receives Thousands From Device Makers. Dr. Patrick Chan>, a back doctor in Arkansas, was at the center of an FBI investigation that involved him receiving thousands of dollars in kickbacks such as computers, cash, and a honeymoon from medical device makers. Chan was convicted on criminal charges for soliciting and receiving … [Read more...]
Lawsuit Alleges Medical Device Makers Paid Illegal Kickbacks to Doctors
Medical Device Makers Paid Kickbacks To Doctors. A Pennsylvania medical supply company is suing six joint implant manufacturers over alleged illegal kickbacks to doctors. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh on Monday, alleges that the defendants blocked Intermedics-McCullough out of the market despite selling … [Read more...]
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick Signs A Health Bill with Strong Gifts-to-Doctors Rules
Bill With Gifts-to-Doctors Strong Rules. According to a recent Associated Press report, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick just signed a bill created, in part, to help reduce that state’s increasing health care costs. The bill will require “hospitals and doctors to adopt a statewide electronic records-keeping system by 2015” and … [Read more...]
Bill to Regulate Industry Gifts to Doctors
Industry Gifts to Doctors. A Senate bill under revision would require drug makers and medical device makers to publicly report gifts over $500 annually to doctors; the previous bill was more stringent and required all gifts valued over $25 be reported. Penalties for drug and device makers were reduced to fines of between $1,000 … [Read more...]
Probe into Medical Device Kickbacks Now Targets Doctors
Medical Device Kickbacks Investigated. Federal investigators looking into kickbacks in the orthopedic device industry have apparently set their sites on another target - doctors who received these illegal incentives. The physician investigation is just the latest chapter in the government's ongoing probe of the financial … [Read more...]
Hip Implant and Joint Replacement Patients Hurt by Company Kickbacks
Nearly impossible to eliminate the Hip Implant illegitimate practice. Kickbacks from the makers of hip implants and other joint replacements to orthopedic surgeons are so prevalent that it has become nearly impossible to eliminate the illegitimate practice, an assistant inspector general with the Health and Human Services Department … [Read more...]
Drug Companies & Continuing Medical Education
Drug Companies Bribing Doctors To Prescribe Drugs. A report released last month by the Senate Finance Committee revealed a dirty little secret about pharmaceutical marketing. Drug companies are bribing doctors to prescribe certain medications. But pharmaceutical companies are not exactly slipping physicians envelopes stuffed with … [Read more...]
Officials Confused By Latest Contact Lens Infections
Acanthamoeba Keratitis a Potentially Blinding Eye Infection. Acanthamoeba keratitis a potentially blinding eye infection caused scrambling doctors and health officials this weekend to try and find out the reason for the outbreak which resembles a similar one that took place last year. Complete MoisturePlus manufactured by Advanced … [Read more...]
Efficacy of heart stents called into question
Doctors overusing heart stents. A seven-year US study has called into question whether doctors are overusing heart stents, the blockbuster tiny wire mesh tubes used to prop open narrowing coronary arteries. The results of the study, called Courage, added more uncertainty to a stent market that recently has been thrown into flux … [Read more...]
New York Times: Doctors in Bed with Big Pharma
Dangerous And Growing Concern With The Big Pharma. A New York Times investigative report in today’s editions has further exposed a dangerous and growing concern within the medical community: physicians with significant financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Research has shown that these financial connections can unduly … [Read more...]
Doctors at N.C. Hospitals Used Dirty Tools
Hospitals Used Dirty Tools For Surgeries. When she needed an operation to repair a torn rotator cuff last year, Carol Svec did her research to find the best surgeon closest to her home. Her search landed her at Duke Health Raleigh Hospital, owned by Duke University Health System, where she had surgery Nov. 15. Now she wonders … [Read more...]
Doctors, Hospitals End Videotaping Births
The Miracle Of Videotaping Births. Dr. John C. Nelson, an obstetrician, understands the desire of some parents to capture the miracle of birth on video. But a few years ago, he put a stop to the practice among his patients for fear the delivery-room footage could someday become Exhibit A in court. "What once used to be really fun … [Read more...]
Docs Wrote Reviews For Drugs Made By Employers
Docs Wrote Reviews For Drugs Made By Employers. The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine violated its own conflict-of-interest policy when it allowed two doctors with financial ties to Merck & Co. to tout COX-2 inhibitor such as Merck's Vioxx while downplaying their heart risks in an August 2001 paper, the Herald has … [Read more...]
Doctors Unsurprised By Vioxx Withdrawal
Merck Arthritis Drug Vioxx Withdrawal. Click here for Free Vioxx Lawsuit Case Evaluation While Merck & Co.'s sudden withdrawal Thursday of the blockbuster pain medication Vioxx may have left millions of patients confused and concerned, doctors and researchers say they aren't surprised. For more than four years, they have been … [Read more...]
Doctors Warn of Diet Pill Dangers
Over-The-Counter Diet Pill Dangers. A major warning, tonight from Utah doctors about over-the-counter diet pills even those labeled, Ephedrine Free. An 18- year old woman was -hospitalized after taking one of the supplements for only two days. Science Specialist Ed Yeates is live at LDS Hospital, with more. After a second … [Read more...]
Doctors Continue Antidepressant Prescriptions Despite Warning
Antidepressant Side Effects Injury Lawsuits. Last summer's warnings of the dangerous side effects of certain antidepressants on teenagers haven't stopped Canadian doctors from prescribing them. Health Canada warned in July that Paxil and Effexor should not be prescribed to anyone under 18 years of age because they may increase the … [Read more...]
$1.5M Awarded For Misdiagnosis
Doctors Misdiagnosis Of Breast Cancer. In 2001, Janet Armstrong was a healthy 42-year-old mom and wife who had at least 35 good years ahead of her. At least, that’s what she said she was led to believe when doctors misread her mammogram, allowing undetected breast cancer to spread and leaving her with a life expectancy of five … [Read more...]
Doctors Are Getting Fed Up With Sales-Force Overkill
Gimmicks That Could Distort Doctors. Drug salespeople have recently taken heat from regulators for gimmicks that could distort doctors' incentives in prescribing drugs. Now those salespeople are hitting another hurdle: Doctors are sick of seeing them. Sales forces at drug companies have nearly doubled to 80,000 reps over the past … [Read more...]
Drugmakers’ Gifts To Doctors Finally Get Needed Scrutiny
Gifts From Drugmakers To Give Their Products An Edge. Christmas trees. Free tickets to a Washington Redskins game, with a champagne reception thrown in. A family vacation in Hawaii. And wads of cash. Such gifts would trigger a big red ''bribery'' alert in the mind of just about any public official or government contractor. But not, … [Read more...]
Lariam Make Doctors Of Suicide Link
Lariam Has Been Link To Suicides. The manufacturer of the antimalaria drug Lariam said yesterday it will send written notices to physicians warning that the drug has been linked to reports of suicide. The action is being taken as US Army officials investigate whether there is a connection between Lariam and a series of murders and … [Read more...]
