The New York Times had an important story that “highlights what experts say is a troubling situation for patients and doctors: when disputes arise about orthopedic implant safety, there are no independent referees or sources of information because no one tracks the performance of the devices. …Those with the most to lose are the hundreds of thousands of people who receive an orthopedic device each year.”
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog wrote that “The FDA is proposing new rules on consumer prescription drug ads aimed at making the information about side effects more understandable. (Off the top of our heads, we’d just suggest they slooooooowwww down when discussing all the rare, but often-horrific sounding side effects of a given medication.)… The comment period ends Monday (June 28).“
Blogger Brian Reid offered one more important followup about news coverage of the big American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting earlier this month. In so doing, he referenced George Carlin’s 7 words, as I’ve been known to do. Excerpt:
“But during the meeting, the national media — the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the broadcast networks and the Associated Press — wrote on only seven studies, a tiny snippet of what was presented. These seven stories, in turn, were pulled from the small number of studies promoted by the ASCO communications department with press briefings.”
And, if you missed it, the New York Times reported that the University of Michigan did what its Big 10 counterpart Minnesota couldn’t:
“In the latest effort to break up the often cozy relationship between doctors and the medical industry, the University of Michigan Medical School has become the first to decide that it will no longer take any money from drug and device makers to pay for coursework doctors need to renew their medical licenses.”
A committee (on which I served) recommended to the Minnesota med school that it eliminate corporate funding of CME within 5 years, but that recommendation was rejected by the administration. Score one big one for the Wolverines over the gutless Gophers on this one.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
I miss @HealthNewsRevu popping up in my feed. Loved seeing this one today.
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2021/06/zombie-health-care-news/
#healthcare #journalism #ethics #conflictofinterest
Puleeeeease... this 'game changer' weight loss drug causes more nausea and vomiting than a placebo. Some game, some change. My friend Gary would spank you for using the eighth word medical reporters should never, ever use. @garyschwitzer @thackerpd
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/toolkit/just-journalists-writing-tips-case-studies/7-words-and-more-you-shouldnt-use-in-medical-news/ https://twitter.com/OttawaCitizen/status/1361426796126830597
A scary @statnews Op-Ed warns that govt attempts to rein in Pharma may cut off access to "life-changing" drugs.
It takes @garyschwitzer to let us know: the author spent 10 years as Pfizer's public-policy chief. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1360325022578053123
Comments (2)
Please note, comments are no longer published through this website. All previously made comments are still archived and available for viewing through select posts.
Gregory D. Pawelski
June 28, 2010 at 9:25 amAfter reading Brian Reid’s blog, I remembered some interesting information about ASCO back in 2004. Public Interest Watch (PIW) called for a government investigation into ASCO, for the manipulative ways in which it has attempted to scuttle badly-needed healthcare reforms. An Associated Press (AP) account of maneuverings by ASCO in its attempts to preserve its lucrative chemotherapy concession, stated that PIW called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to open a formal investigation of its contract with Ketchum Communications to promote reforms to Medicare.
According to AP, Ketchum was HHS’ principal contractor in its $87 million public campaign to gain acceptance of changes to Medicare. In its report, it also noted that Ketchum simultaneously was under contract with ASCO to scuttle some of the very changes HHS was paying it to promote.
PIW Interim Executive Director Lewis Fein stated, “Ketchum’s conduct in this matter appears to be so blatantly unethical that it defies explanation. It is literally working both sides of the same issue and millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted.” Fein also noted, “We believe the American Society of Clinical Onoclogists is just as at fault as Ketchum. ASCO’s decision to retain Ketchum appears to be nothing more than a premeditated attempt to corrupt to legislative process and to waste millions in public funds in the process.”
ASCO has run into trouble before in the course of its campaign against Medicare reform. In March of that year, the editorial board of the New York Times criticized “angry doctors” for terrorizing their patients” into believing that a reformed Medicare drug reimbursement plan would force them to turn cancer patients out to less convenient and less comfortable hospitals for chemotherapy treatment.
Our Comments Policy
But before leaving a comment, please review these notes about our policy.
You are responsible for any comments you leave on this site.
This site is primarily a forum for discussion about the quality (or lack thereof) in journalism or other media messages (advertising, marketing, public relations, medical journals, etc.) It is not intended to be a forum for definitive discussions about medicine or science.
We will delete comments that include personal attacks, unfounded allegations, unverified claims, product pitches, profanity or any from anyone who does not list a full name and a functioning email address. We will also end any thread of repetitive comments. We don”t give medical advice so we won”t respond to questions asking for it.
We don”t have sufficient staffing to contact each commenter who left such a message. If you have a question about why your comment was edited or removed, you can email us at feedback@healthnewsreview.org.
There has been a recent burst of attention to troubles with many comments left on science and science news/communication websites. Read “Online science comments: trolls, trash and treasure.”
The authors of the Retraction Watch comments policy urge commenters:
We”re also concerned about anonymous comments. We ask that all commenters leave their full name and provide an actual email address in case we feel we need to contact them. We may delete any comment left by someone who does not leave their name and a legitimate email address.
And, as noted, product pitches of any sort – pushing treatments, tests, products, procedures, physicians, medical centers, books, websites – are likely to be deleted. We don”t accept advertising on this site and are not going to give it away free.
The ability to leave comments expires after a certain period of time. So you may find that you’re unable to leave a comment on an article that is more than a few months old.
You might also like