1 Boring Old Man

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
^{A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens 1859}

Top Psychiatrist Didn’t Report Drug Makers’ Pay

New York Times

By GARDINER HARRIS

October 3, 2008

One of the nation’s most influential psychiatrists earned more than $2.8 million in consulting arrangements with drug makers from 2000 to 2007, failed to report at least $1.2 million of that income to his university and violated federal research rules, according to documents provided to Congressional investigators. The psychiatrist, Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff of Emory University, is the most prominent figure to date in a series of disclosures that is shaking the world of academic medicine and seems likely to force broad changes in the relationships between doctors and drug makers…

Government reveals $3.5 billion in industry ties to doctors, hospitals

LA Times

By Chad Terhune and Noam N. Leve

September 30, 2014

Opening the book on long-hidden industry relationships, the federal government revealed nearly $3.5 billion worth of payments and other ties that U.S. doctors and teaching hospitals have with drug and medical-device companies. These financial details, published Tuesday under a requirement in the federal health law, have been sought for years by patient advocates and lawmakers from both political parties concerned about conflicts of interest in the medical profession.

Initially, the new federal website includes 4.4 million payments made during the last five months of 2013. More data will be published next summer. Officials said the data cover financial transactions involving about 546,000 physicians and 1,360 teaching hospitals across the country. Consumer advocates hope the increased disclosure will ultimately help curb unethical practices by some doctors who prescribe medications and devices after receiving large sums from manufacturers, possibly putting patient care at risk.

Physicians and academic medical centers defend industry collaboration as essential to advance research into life-saving treatments. They have also questioned the accuracy of the government data. The Physician Payments Sunshine Act was included in the Affordable Care Act that President Obama signed in 2010 amid growing demands for more openness in the U.S. healthcare system, which historically has shielded doctors, hospitals and other medical providers from much public scrutiny…

Those revelations of 2008 were the worst of times because I found out about the rampant corruption in the academic psychiatry pharmaceutical industry alliance. I had become a recluse after my own experiences and I felt guilty for not seeing what was happening in my own back yard. On the other hand, it was the best of times because it explained what had happened in my professional world that was so confusing, and it opened the door to trying to contribute to doing something about it. But looking back, 2008 was a confusing year, to say the least.

The Slow Pace of Success in a "Do Something Congress"

Harvard University
Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics

by Paul Thacker

February 20, 2013

…

It took more than five years to get it done.

Now that it’s all over, I can tell you it was worth it. This bill will bring some balance back to the relationship between doctors and industry. We need them to work together — industry needs the insight from expert physicians to create the next generation of drugs and devices, and doctors need these products to save lives. But we cannot tolerate companies buying off doctors who put profit before patients.

Years from now, I think people will look back on these reforms — the Grassley/Kohl Sunshine Act — and realize that they made academic medicine better. Few people will know about the staff behind the scenes making it possible. Even fewer will truly appreciate the long hours and great deal of stress we went through.

Even when Congress gets something done, it takes an incredibly long time and years of dedication.

I am personally indebted to him for wiping the vasoline off of my own lenses. I hated seeing what he showed us, but am grateful that it finally saw the light of day. Senator Grassley gets loud Kudos for his work in Congress and the moral strength to pursue it, but Paul Thacker was the one who did the leg work and the head work to make it all happen. I’m absolutely sure that he opened a lot more eyes than just mine with his work, and with his later exposures of ghostwriting when he was with POGO. He reminded us of a medical ethic that had gotten lost in a lot of circles along the way. We owe him so much more than he claims for himself…