medical
DISHONEST MEDICAL SCIENCE.
Here is a quote from the book Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, by Doctor Phil Hammond and Michael Mosley, published by Metro Books, 1999, page 65:- “The tragedy of Bristol (high mortality in this hospital) reinforces how SECRETIVE, POWERFUL, AND UNACCOUNTABLE DOCTORS ARE. But Bristol is only the tip of the iceberg.” (My capitals.)
Here is a related quote from The Sunday Times, June 4th, 2018. Article – Make a Fuss, and its The Syringe For You, by Dominic Lawson:- “Only 45% of those administered terminal quantities of (painkiller) Diamorphine were said to be in pain. - - - In 20% of cases, their medical notes gave - - no reason - - for the LETHAL DOSE - - - The ones most likely to get the treatment appeared not to be the sickest, but the most “difficult”. - - - If a nurse didn’t like you, you were a goner - - - 78 year old Ethel Thurston - - - her behaviour can be aggressive - - - Doctor Barton wrote her recommendation - - - I am happy for nursing staff to confirm death - - - - syringe driver started - - - huge doses administered - - -At 7pm a nurse confirmed Miss Thurston’s death.” (My capitals.)
A related quote from the same Sunday Times issue (pages 6 to 7). Article – Cheap, Faulty, and Pumping Straight into The Vein:- “(Doctor) Jane Barton - - - was responsible for the deaths of at least 456 - - -elderly patients - - -She administered fatal doses of (painkiller) Diamorphine - - - In more than half the cases - - - her patients were not - - - having suffered any kind of pain - - - “a culture of shortening lives” of - - patients - - - THE GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL - - -WERE GUILTY OF CLOSING RANKS AND OF OBFUSCATION - - - atrocities at Gosport (Hospital) - - - - NURSES RAISED CONCERNS - - - ABOUT THE PRESCRIBING OF DIAMORPHINE. THE HEAT WAS TURNED ON THESE NURSES, WITH THE EFFECT THAT THEY WERE SILENCED.” (My capitals.) (My comment:- This was in Gosport in England, in 2017 – not in Auschwitz under Doctor Mengele!)
Here is a quote from New Scientist (magazine), August 27th, 2016. Article: Misguided Medicine, by Kay Sukel (pages 34 to 38):- “Vertebroplasty - - - is widely used - - - in spite of randomised trials showing that it is no better than a placebo; the practice is still used even at - - - one of the top ranked hospitals in the US.” (My highlighting.)
The next quote is from the magazine Nexus (The Alternative News Magazine), volume 24, number 1, December 2016 to January 2017 – Article: Deadly Psychiatry (an excerpt from the book Deadly Psychiatry and Organized Denial, 2015, by Professor Peter C. Gotzsche, Professor of Clinical Research in The University of Copenhagen.):- PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS - - KILL MORE THAN HALF A MILLION PEOPLE EVERY YEAR - - - Leading psychiatrists have allowed the drug industry to corrupt their academic discipline - - - they refuse to see the damage they cause, even when the evidence is overwhelming. - - - PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH IS PREDOMINANTLY PSEUDOSCIENCE - - - - THE DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) CRITERIA ARE TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE AND ARBITRARY - - - MANY OF THOSE WHO DEVELOP THE DSM HAVE HEAVY CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN RELATION TO THE DRUG INDUSTRY.” (My capitals.)
The following quotes are from the book Anatomy of an Epidemic, by Robert Whitaker, published by Broadway Paperbacks, New York, 2010:-
Pages 302 to 303:- “American psychiatrists rejuvenated the market for psychiatric medications, even although the clinical studies of the drugs had not told of any therapeutic advance - - - - Neither the new drugs nor the old drugs could really be said to work - - - intolerable side effects - - - All this led two prominent psychiatrists to write in The Lancet that the story of the atypicals (psychiatric drugs) as breakthrough medication could now be “regarded as INVENTION ONLY”, a tale concocted “by the drug companies FOR MARKETING PURPOSES, AND ONLY NOW BEING EXPOSED.” (My capitals.)
Page 304:- “Pharmaceutical companies - - - - hired top psychiatrists - - - that co-opting of academic medicine - - - AMERICAN PSYCHIATRY HAS TOLD THE PUBLIC A FALSE STORY. The field promoted the idea that its DRUGS FIX CHEMICAL IMBALANCES IN THE BRAIN WHEN THEY DO NO SUCH THING - - - IT HAS NEEDED TO SQUELCH TALK ABOUT THE HARM THAT THE DRUGS CAN CAUSE.” (My capitals.)
Page 305:- “Psychiatric drugs “work” by DISABLING THE BRAIN - - - Breggin - - spoke about - - - evidence that neuroleptics DAMAGED THE BRAIN - - - NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) - - - filed a complaint with The Maryland State Commission on Medical Discipline, asking that it TAKE AWAY BREGGIN’S MEDICAL LICENCE - - - THEY WERE WILLING TO DESTROY YOUR CAREER.” (My capitals.)
Pages 306 to 307:- “He told me that my career would be destroyed - - - I had NO RIGHT TO BRING OUT THE HAZARDS OF THE PILLS - - - The message is that it is bad to speak out - - - beyond the pale. - - - (Regarding a psychologist who reported negative effects of the drug Ritalin) “The National Institute on Drug Abuse STOPPED FUNDING HER WORK - - - (Regarding another similar whistleblower) “HER FEDERAL RESEARCH FUNDS WERE CUT OFF.”
Page 308:- “Antipsychotic drugs cause morphological changes in the brain that are associated with a worsening of schizophrenia symptoms.!
Page 309:- “Long term users of benzodiazepines end up “markedly ill to extremely ill”, and regularly suffer from symptoms of depression and anxiety - - - - (In a study of ADHD) “medication use was a significant marker NOT OF BENEFICIAL OUTCOME, BUT OF DETERIORATION.”
Page 312:- “COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT - - - IN LONGTIME USERS OF PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS - - - - Psychiatry has had to GROSSLY EXAGGERATE the value of its drugs, SILENCE CRITICS, and keep the story of poor long-term outcomes HIDDEN. That is a wilful, conscious process.” (My capitals and highlighting.)
Page 313:- “Drug-induced Parkinsonian symptoms - - - TREMORS SO SEVERE - - - TARDIVE DYSKINESIA, AN ANTIPSYCHOTIC SIDE EFFECT THAT CAN DISABLE PEOPLE. (My capitals.)
Page 316:- “Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industries - - - studies detailing POOR LONG-TERM OUTCOMES HAVE BEEN KEPT FROM THE PUBLIC. (My capitals and highlighting.)
Page 321:- “ - - - generates great - - -wealth for - - - pharmaceutical companies, and MONEY ALSO FLOWS IN FAIRLY COPIOUS AMOUNTS TO THE ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRISTS WHO TOUT THEIR DRUGS.” (My capitals.)
Page 322:- “The pharmaceutical companies would not have been able to build a 40 billion dollar market for psychiatric drugs without the help of PSYCHIATRISTS AT ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTRES - - - ACADEMIC PSYCHIATRISTS - - - PAID BY DRUG COMPANIES - - - ACTED AS THE SALESMEN.” (My capitals.)
Pages 322 to 323:- Details are provided of various payoffs made by pharmaceutical companies to psychiatrists. Charles Nemeroff, Chair of The Psychiatry Department at Emory Medical School:- 2.8 million dollars (payoff). Another Professor of Psychiatry 250,000 dollars (payoff). A former Director of The NIMH – 1.2 million dollars. A long list of similar payoffs is provided.
The next quote is from New Scientist (magazine), June 18th, 2016, page 21, Article – Why Take Depression Pills if They Don’t Work, by Clare Wilson:- “Another study - - - This one says that for children - - - with major depression, 13 of the 14 (antidepressant) drugs analysed don’t work - - - - despite this, the number of prescriptions - - - rises every year - - - THE TRUE - - - RISK WILL ONLY EMERGE WHEN - - - RESEARCHERS CAN ACCESS ALL THE DATA FROM CLINICAL TRIALS – SOMETHING DRUG MANUFACTURERS ARE STILL RESISTING.” (My capitals and highlighting.)
The following quotes are from the book Cracked. Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good, by James Davies (Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Psychology at The University of Roehampton, London), published by Icon, 2013:-
Page 3:- “Negative drug trials are routinely buried, and research is regularly manipulated to convey positive results
Page 63:- “Nearly 40% of all the trials of antidepressant drugs had NOT BEEN PUBLISHED. (My capitals.)
Page 67:- “The new wave of antidepressants - - - WORKED NO BETTER THAN DUMMY PILLS. (My capitals.)
Pages 142 to 143:- “Pharmaceutical companies have histories of CONCEALING EVIDENCE - - - and SUPPRESSING NEGATIVE DATA - - - - manipulation of research - - - - The COMPROMISE OF BASIC SCIENTIFIC STANDARDS - - - - GlaxoSmithKline has WITHHELD DISAPPOINTING CLINICAL DATA REGARDING - - - SAFETY OF CERTAIN DRUGS.” (My capitals.)
Page 144:- GlaxoSmithKline - - paid 2.5 million dollars for CHARGES OF CONSUMER FRAUD. - - - HIDDEN A STUDY SHOWING THAT THEIR ANTIDEPRESSANTS - - - - MIGHT - - - POSE DANGEROUS RISKS - - - - Pfizer withheld negative trials from publication. (My capitals.)
Page 145:- “33 negative studies had - - - BEEN BURIED - - - Psychiatric research is being regularly manipulated to make negative data look positive.” (My capitals.)
Page 152:- AstraZeneca paid out 125 million pounds to settle a class action - - - for DEFRAUDING THE PUBLIC.” (My capitals.)
Page 161:- “88 percent of all DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) panel members HAD DRUG COMPANY FINANCIAL TIES - - - RECEIVED - - - CONSULTANCY FEES OR FUNDING FROM THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES.” (My capitals.)
Page 163:- The FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) was approving drugs for public use which some in-house scientists knew were dangerous. And when these scientists tried to speak out, THE FDA PUT ENORMOUS PRESSURE ON THEM TO SHUT UP.” (My capitals.)
Pages 172 to 173:- A Professor of Psychiatry - - - David Healey - - argued that - - -these drugs can lead to suicide - - - an email - - RETRACTING THE UNIVERSITY’S PREVIOUS OFFER - - - ELI LILLY, THE COMPANY WHOSE ANTIDEPRESSANT HE’D CRITIQUED WAS A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTOR TO THE UNIVERSITY - - - - By critiquing Eli Lilly would THREATEN AN IMPORTANT FUNDING SOURCE - - - He sued the university - - - The case was settled out of court.” (My capitals and highlighting.)
Page 199:- “Pseudo-scientific claims are being misused to sell the idea that our problems are - - - - best remedied with costly biochemical remedies.”
Page 218:- “Many of psychiatry’s claims CANNOT BE SCIENTIFICALLY SUBSTANTIATED.” (My capitals.)
Page 290:- “A study in (The science journal) International Pharmopsychiatry published in 1978 by Maurice Rappaport from The University of California - - - - showed that those NOT TREATED WITH ANTIPSYCHOTICS HAD BY FAR THE BEST OUTCOMES.” (My capitals and highlighting.)
Page 293:- “Some patients who take antipsychotics - - - develop - - - “tardive diskinesia”, a gross motor dysfunction - - - uncontrollable movements - - - -THIS CONDITION - - - REMAINS AFTER THE DRUGS ARE WITHDRAWN, which has been taken as EVIDENCE FOR THEIR CAUSING PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE.” (My capitals,)
This quote is from New Scientist (magazine), 1st April, 2017, page 6. Article: Drug Patent Battle:- “(The drug) Sofosbuvir can cure hepatitis C in just three months, but costs E55,000 (fifty five thousand Euros) for a course of treatment. The drug’s patent is held by pharmaceuticals firm Gilead of Foster City, California, giving the company a monopoly over the drug in Europe. There are 80 million people in the world with hepatitis C - - - - Generic versions of Sofosbuvir - - - made in - - - India bring down the cost of a course of the drug to £185.”
The next quote is from The Economist (magazine), March 10th, 2018, page 45. Article: Bruised and Battered. “In January Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against manufacturers of prescription opioids, seeking TO HALT THE COMPANIES’ “DECEPTIVE MARKETING PRACTICES”, and get them to pay for the rocketing cost to the city of treating addicts.”
This quote is from New Scientist (magazine), 4th March, 2017, page 6. Article: Microbe Danger List:- “Current work on new antibiotics is largely aimed at bacteria for which it is easiest to find and test new drugs, not those doing most harm.”
This quote is from the book Forbidden Science, by Richard Milton, published by Fourth Estate, London, 1995, pages 81 to 82:- “The Medical Research Council - - - are not interested in techniques - - - which have been shown to be effective in preventing - - - disease - - - Much of their funds are derived from the major drug companies. These firms - - - are able to influence research in the direction of being drug related - - - Medical training is funded by drug companies - - - So are medical journals - - - THIRTY PERCENT OF ALL HOSPITAL PATIENTS SUFFER UNWANTED SIDE EFFECTS FROM DRUGS - - - ONE IN SEVEN HOSPITAL BEDS IN THE UNITED STATES IS OCCUPIED BY PATIENTS UNDER TREATMENT FOR ADVERSE REACTION TO DRUGS.” (My capitals.)
The next quote is from New Scientist (magazine), February 11th, 2017, page 3. Article: Hearts on Our Sleeves:- “Tens of millions of people took Vioxx for - - - arthritis - - - Tens of thousands probably had heart attacks as a result - - - THE DRUG’S MAKERS WERE ACCUSED OF WITHOLDING TRIAL DATA THAT WOULD HAVE REVEALED THE RISKS.” (My capitals.)
The next quote comes from the book Bad Pharma, by Ben Goldacre (who is a medical doctor), published by Fourth Estate, 2013, page 127:- (At the FDA meeting to discuss the painkiller Vioxx) “Ten - - - members of the panel had some kind of conflict of interest, and 9 of these 10 voted to keep the drugs on the market, compared with the 60/40 split among the remainder of the committee.”
In chapter 4 of this book (entitled “Bad Trials”), Goldacre sets out various “tricks” for “massaging” (ie:- falsifying) trial data (ie:- in trials of drugs). One of these tricks is to stop a trial early when random variations in the results give a transiently favourable outcome.
This quote is from page 1 of the same book:- “Industry-funded trials (of drugs) are far more likely to produce a positive - - - result than independently funded trials - - - - (A recent study of drug trials found that) 85% of the industry funded studies were positive, but only 50% of the government-funded trials were (positive).”
This quote from pages 5 to 7 of the same book:- The author discusses an anti-depressant Reboxetine - - - All the published data showed the drug to be effective. HOWEVER, TRIALS OF THE DRUG SHOWING IT TO BE INEFFECTIVE REMAINED UNPUBLISHED. The author comments:- “Publication bias – the process whereby negative results go unpublished – is endemic throughout the whole of medicine and academia” (My capitals.)
Here is a related quote from New Scientist (magazine), July 9th, 2016, pages 42 to 43, Article – Listening to Everyone:- “Psychologist Irving Kirsch - - - concluded from his own meta-analysis of data - - that antidepressants provide no meaningful benefit over placebo - - - - IN COUNTRIES WITH WIDE-SPEAD ANTIDEPRESSANT USE, THE NUMBER OF ADULTS LIVING ON DISABILITY BENEFITS DUE TO MOOD DISORDERS HAS SOARED.” (My capitals.) (My comment:- I have a large database on the harmful effects of antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs. The terrible harm that many of these drugs do simply demonstrates that science is about money, profits, careers, prestige, and power, not about truth or human welfare.)
This quote is from New Statesman (magazine), January 27th to February 2nd, 2017, pages 44 to 46. Article: Killing us Softly. How The Sugar Industry Created a Global Crisis of Addiction and Illness, by Michael Brooks:- “The decades of collusion between science - - - and the sugar industry has long needed to be exposed for the avaricious and sociopathic strategy that it is - - - - Science can be twisted, co-opted - - -by those who hold the reins of power. - - - Those (ie:- scientists) who rely on financial support from those in power will acquiesce and toe the line.”
These quotes are from the book Madness Explained, by Richard P. Bentall, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool, published by Penguin Books, 2004.
Pages 122 to 123:- The author tells us how John Carothers (Senior Medical officer at Mathan Mental Hospital, Nairobi) was commissioned by The World Health Organisation to write a psychological analysis of The Mau Mau rebellion. He “attempted to pathologize the motives of a revolutionary movement, AND FAILED TO MENTION THE LAND DISPUTES THAT HAD TRIGGERED THE INSURRECTION.” (My capitals.)
Page 136:- The author tells us of an article by Doctor Samuel Cartwright, published in The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal of 1851, suggesting that “DREAPETOMANIA (AN UNCONTROLLABLE URGE TO RUN AWAY OBSERVED IN AMERICAN NEGRO SLAVES) SHOULD BE REGARDED AS A MEDICAL DISORDER.” (My capitals.)