Monthly Archives: July 2011

Forest Labs’ CEO Faces Exile

Forest Labs’ CEO Faces Exile The Forest Laboratories CEO, Howard Solomon, who built his company’s fortune on the antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro, faces exile from the health-care industry. On Apr. 12, Solomon learned that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) … Continue reading

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Loughner Medicated Again

Jared Loughner pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the January 8 shooting that left six people dead and 13 wounded, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona. He has been at the Springfield, Missouri federal prison since May 27 after … Continue reading

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The Chantix Fraud

The Chantix Fraud A study published July 4, 2011 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal concluded that smokers who take Chantix, a smoking cessation drug, could increase their risk of heart problems. The study found that there are “safety concerns … Continue reading

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How Big Pharma got Americans hooked on anti-psychotic drugs

How Big Pharma got Americans hooked on anti-psychotic drugs A recent opinion article in Al Jazeera English is an interesting read (“Mass psychosis in the US” by James Ridgeway, a senior Washington correspondent with Mother Jones Magazine.) The article starts with, “Has America … Continue reading

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Federal Court Rules Against Loughner’s Forced Medication

Federal Court Rules Against Loughner’s Forced Medication Jared Lee Loughner — who was accused of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 more people in Tucson, Ariz., in January — can continue to reject psychotropic drug treatment, a federal appeals court … Continue reading

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Costs of Health Care

An article in The Economist (25 June 2011, “Mass observation”) discussing the 2006 health care reform legislation in Massachusetts, and on which the current federal health care legislation was based in part, makes the point that, although the percent of … Continue reading

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Pharmacogenetics

An article in Science News Daily (April 11, 2011, “Pharmacogenetics Testing Offers Way to Reduce Deaths from Drug Toxicity”) discusses the field of pharmacogenetics (also called pharmacogenomics,) the study of an individual’s variation in DNA sequence related to drug response. … Continue reading

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Miami-Area Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty for Role in $200 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, June 30, 2011 http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/June/11-crm-871.html WASHINGTON – A Miami-area psychiatrist pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Miami for his part in a fraud scheme that resulted in the … Continue reading

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Judge rules prison can forcibly medicate Loughner

“A federal judge on Wednesday June 29 refused to order prison officials to stop forcibly medicating Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner with anti-psychotic drugs. “U.S. District Judge Larry Burns rejected a request by defense attorneys for Loughner, 22, to halt … Continue reading

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Scientific Facts

After years of hearing and reading various discourses and arguments involving the phrase “scientific fact,” one recognizes a major societal misunderstanding about this concept. The phrase is thrown about in support or denial of numerous viewpoints, but it is often … Continue reading

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