Impugning The Integrity Of Medical Science | Arthritis Information

 

Wake up people!

Pip,

My mother has RA and had been on Cortisone for a number of years. It was hard to watch her suffering from this condition and the drugs were making her sick and her hair was also thinning and falling out as a side affect. The doctors only recommendation was Cortisone. I heard about a all natural product through a friend that had helped her mother. It was called Mums Rub. I found out that I can order it online from www.mumsrub.com

She used it for a week and the pain had gone. She is now weaning herself off the Cortisone and has made a miracle recovery. The doctor was amazed and so was I. I don't trust doctors to much, they are often feed garbage from Pharmaceutical companies. I agree with that article.lukeopai, it appears that you are the equal and opposite problem that Pip is describing, which is people who come onto forums and immediately start posting about some "all natural" product (with a link where to find it) that they or their relative have used successfully, in all sorts of threads, related or not.  Is this the only thing you have to say here?  Makes it seem like you are just selling something, something you may have a financial stake in, and when you relate it to articles showing problems with medical research, it also seems like preying on fears.  I hope I am wrong about you.

Pip, this isn't so much about JAMA misrepresenting studies as JAMA was duped by authors of studies and thus the public was led to believe that studies were reliable and truthful.  JAMA has admitted publishing errors and is taking big steps in correcting this in the future.  As long as researchers are liars then the publications are set up to misrepresent.  It's the trickle down effect.  I'm happy to see that JAMA didn't just shrug it all off and came out with strong guidelines which may deter dishonost researchers in the future, or maybe they'll find other ways to misrepresent.  Lindy

Oh by the way, Lukeopal, kep the MumsRub thread in the proper topic area. 

Lindy

Yes, I should have phrased that better.  I was amazed when I saw this on AF.  The fact that they are taking steps is wonderful - but if they got 'taken in' then who else has?  And lets not forget this isn't just Merck.  It's all of them. Argh...it's so frustrating because these are the journals that our doctors are reading as well.

Just ANOTHER big problem when medicine is FOR PROFIT.

You wonder how the people that knowingly put forth bad information sleep at night. Have they no conscience? Don't they know they are the direct cause of much human suffering? Or does their "right" to make an almighty dollar justify this behaviour for them?

I just don't understand.lukeopai = SPAM

Yeah, you do have to wonder how people quiet their conscience when they do things that they know are harmful to others.  But don't clump everyone who works in medicne and makes a good profit together.  It's not like it's inherently wrong to make a lot of money.  You can make a darn good argument that money and power are a hotbed for corruption, still I would hesitate before I'd color everyone who works in big pharma to be corrupt.

A LOT of medical advances come out of countries where medicine is not for profit (ie: every developed country except the USA), so that rationale doesn't fly with me. There's no way to change the greed of some individuals. To solve this problem a need in the overall appraoch is what would work.

In fact, in places where medicine is not for profit there is MUCH MORE incentive to fund research to find cures, since curing someone is a lot less expensive than treating them for life. It's simple economics.Linda - Exactly - it's greed, not money.  It's possible to make huge sums of money and not be greedy.  Greed prompts corruption.  LindyPip, the Assoc. Press article I read today  makes it look like JAMA helped break the story - "Merck called the reports in Wednesday's JAMA false and misleading."


This is about Vioxx, we know Bextra was next, most recently Vytorin in the news.....my money's on Caduet next.  You heard it here first.....  Researchers and doctors in not-for-profit systems still make damn fine salaries! Just because some middle men aren't making obscene profits off illness doesn't mean there's not money to be made in the field.

Medical advances were made long before the idea of a corporation even existed.

The problem with these kinds of shenanigans is even if you have a doctor and/or a researcher with integrity, they're reading these falsified studies. Doctors are busy people. They don't have time to personally verify, dissect, or investigate the accuracy of studies they read in respected medical journals. They just take them at face value. So EVEN IF these greedy and suspect practices are done by an isolated few (which I doubt), they are still tainting the practices of the most honest and sincere doctors, and that is trickling down into the care we receive. It effectively corrupts the whole system.Yes, it does.  That's what I meant by the trickle down effect.  I think it prevails through out the Pharma industry but in different ways and levels of deception.  Once a company has misrepresented themselves or their studies then it becomes the prevailing way of doing business.  Hey, it worked once, so lets do it again, and again, and again.  I think it's been done many times before and this time they became careless.  I really don't think they realize that each thing they do is being dissected, reviewed, and put under the microscope (I know, bad pun) but I couldn't resist.  Egos and greed.  Lethal combo.  LI think I said that.  Didn't I say that???
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