Psychiatrist Mendez-Villamil follows the rule and writes 97,000 prescriptions for mental health drugs to Medicaid patients in 10 minutes appoitments

The difference it that Fernando Mendez-Villamil is in the news because Senator Charley Grassley found it a little bit too much:

"I note with alarm that the top Medicaid prescriber during that time wrote 96,685 prescriptions for mental health drugs,`` Grasley wrote. ``That means that this physician wrote approximately 153 prescriptions each and every day, assuming he did not take vacations.''

According to the Associated Press the investigation began in 2007, triggered by a request from a private citizen.

This is remarkable and an encouragement to citizens start to do something when he/she witness something strange. Mendez-Villamil is now being investigated and Medicare stopped paying him in May.

The second top psychiatrist prescriber in Florida wrote "a little more than 53,000 prescriptions, according to a list compiled by state officials."

You can read the whole story being unfold here but I like to stress this:

"A Florida doctor who prescribed several mental health medications to a 7-year-old foster care boy who killed himself in April is also on the list. The drugs carried a special FDA black box warning indicating they can cause suicidal thoughts and are not approved for young children, though some doctors still prescribe them to treat children. (emphasis mine)

Dr. Sohail Punjwani wrote 10,150 prescriptions during the same two year period, according to the report.

Dr. Punjwani, who has appeared on the high-prescriber list multiple times but has never been sanctioned, did not immediately return a phone call left by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Grassley's letter comes months after Gabriel Myers hung himself with a shower cord at his foster parents' home while under Punjwani's care. The boy's death prompted debate at the state's child welfare agency about stricter rules for prescribing powerful antidepressants and other drugs to foster children. (emphasys mine)

Attention parents! Your children are not safe using these drugs. You can take whatever you want but, please, take care of your children.

Finally psychiatrists are invited to tell how they are prescribing these dangerous psych-drugs and it is about time that the thousands others who do the same have to answer for their clinical methods.

Many of those who are blogging have been prescribed like this: in 12 minutes meetings and the eyes of the physician are not on the patients eyes: they are staring the pen on the prescription notepad. I bet many don't even know if the patient who just left is blond, brunette, bald or hairy, thin or fat, big or small boobs (in the last case especially if the psychiatrist is a male who is taking or took a SSRI/SRNI antidepressant and had sexual fantasies and desire vanished as you can read here and here.

Via Furious Seasons.

Time to end the DSM joke: two scientists propose DSM-5 end

I am very sorry to copy and paste but this is a must-read. I first saw it at this article at Furious Seasons:

Psychiatry's civil war

• Updated 18:18 11 December 2009 by Peter Aldhous
• Magazine issue 2738. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
• For similar stories, visit the Mental Health Topic Guide

Editorial: Psychiatry's bible: Its time has passed

Since this article was first posted, the American Psychiatric Association has announced that the publication of DSM-V will be delayed until May 2013. "Extending the timeline will allow more time for public review, field trials and revisions," says APA president Alan Schatzberg.

When doctors disagree with each other, they usually couch their criticisms in careful, measured language. In the past few months, however, open conflict has broken out among the upper echelons of US psychiatry. The focus of discord is a volume called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, orDSM, which psychiatrists turn to when diagnosing the distressed individuals who turn up at their offices seeking help. Regularly referred to as the profession's bible, the DSM is in the midst of a major rewrite, and feelings are running high.

Two eminent retired psychiatrists are warning that the revision process is fatally flawed. They say the new manual, to be known as DSM-V, will extend definitions of mental illnesses so broadly that tens of millions of people will be given unnecessary and risky drugs. Leaders of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which publishes the manual, have shot back, accusing the pair of being motivated by their own financial interests - a charge they deny. The row is set to come to a head next month when the proposed changes will be published online. For a profession that exists to soothe human troubles, it's incendiary stuff.

Psychiatry suffers in comparison with other areas of medicine, as diseases of the mind are on the whole less well understood than those of the body. We have, as yet, only glimpses into the fundamental causes of the common mental illnesses, and there are no biological tests to diagnose them. This means conditions such as depression, schizophrenia and personality disorders remain difficult to diagnose with precision. Doctors can only question people about their state of mind and observe their behaviour, classifying illness according to the most obvious symptoms.

We have only glimpses into the causes of mental illnesses and there are no biological tests for them

First published in 1952, the DSM has its origins in a book used by the US military to determine if recruits were mentally fit for combat. The difficulty of separating mental disorders from normal variation in behaviour made it controversial from the start. Over the years, the book's influence has grown, and today it is used by doctors across the globe.

The wording used in the DSM has a significance that goes far beyond questions of semantics. The diagnoses it enshrines affect what treatments people receive, and whether health insurers will fund them. They can also exacerbate social stigmas and may even be used to deem an individual such a grave danger to society that they are locked up.

Some of the most acrimonious arguments stem from worries about the pharmaceutical industry's influence over psychiatry. This has led to the spotlight being turned on the financial ties of those in charge of revising the manual, and has made any diagnostic changes that could expand the use of drugs especially controversial. "I think the DSM represents a lightning rod for all kinds of groups," says David Kupfer of the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who heads the task force appointed by the APA to produce the revised manual.

Few would claim that the DSM's current version is perfect. With each revision, the number of conditions it defines has swelled, many surrounded by bewildering lists of symptoms that must be checked to assign a diagnosis. Using current DSM checklists, for example, 114 different combinations of symptoms can lead to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. At the same time, many patients prove hard to fit into the framework.

One aim of the work groups compiling DSM-V is to cut through this chaos. They are streamlining diagnoses by removing various subtypes of schizophrenia, for example, and intend to address the confusion created by the fact that many people with one condition meet criteria for other disorders as well. The DSM-V task force is expected to propose a series of "dimensions" to be considered with a patient's main diagnosis. So as well as deciding whether someone has, say, bipolar disorder, doctors would determine whether they are suffering from problems such as anxiety and sleeping disturbances, and assess them on a simple scale of severity.

Grandiose claims

This is widely seen as a first step towards a future in which psychiatric diagnosis has a more scientific base, where sprawling checklists of symptoms are replaced by sliding-scale measurements of the underlying determinants of mental health. Yet critics worry that even a limited embrace of this "dimensional" approach is running ahead of the science. Until we understand more about the biological basis of psychiatric disease, this approach will not be helpful, they say.

Some of the harshest criticisms have come from those who led previous revisions of the DSM, in 1980 and 1994. In July, Robert Spitzer and Allen Frances, both now retired, wrote a stinging letter to the APA, accusing it of planning unworkable changes and making grandiose claims. In a separateeditorial in the magazine Psychiatric Times, Frances complained that most of the authors are university-based researchers who are cut off from typical doctors and patients.

Spitzer and Frances also criticise the fact that members of the various DSM-Vwork groups have had to sign confidentiality agreements. "The main problem is that we don't know what they're doing," says Spitzer. The APA says the confidentiality agreements are to stop the manual's authors writing their own diagnostic handbooks alongside the official manual. Kupfer points out that discussion does go on: work groups proposing major changes debate their ideas in papers and at meetings. "We've done everything we can to encourage it," he says.

Another focus for Spitzer and Frances's concern is the suggestion that DSM-Vcould include new categories to capture milder forms of illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression and dementia. "The result would be a wholesale... medicalization of normality that will lead to a deluge of unneeded medication," Frances said in his editorial.

For example, one work group is considering whether it is possible to catch people in the early stages of schizophrenia or other psychotic illnesses before they have their first full-blown psychotic episode (Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol 35, p 841). Some doctors prescribe antipsychotic drugs at this early stage in the hope of stopping the illness from progressing.

Libido loss

These medicines can have serious side effects, such as loss of libido, weight gain and distressing tremors and spasms, so no one would want to take them without good reason. Yet it's hard to separate distressed people who will go on to develop a psychotic disorder from the "false positives" - those who will recover or develop a different illness. The available evidence suggests that only about 30 per cent of people identified as being at risk of psychosis will go on to develop it within two years.

These medicines can have serious side effects so no one wants to take them without good reason

Nevertheless, William Carpenter, a psychiatrist at the University of Maryland in Baltimore who chairs the DSM-V work group on psychosis, believes the needs of the "true positives" are so great that adding a diagnostic category to cover "psychosis risk" would, on balance, be a good thing. Frances brands this proposed diagnosis as "the most worrisome suggestion entertained".

Given the controversy, psychosis risk may not make it into the DSM proper, and may instead appear in the appendix, as a condition needing more research. But even that designation might boost prescribing.

Frances and Spitzer are not the only ones with concerns, and there are other flashpoints (see "Hebephilia", "Transgendered" and "Bereavement"). In March,Jane Costello of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, resigned from the work group on disorders in childhood and adolescence, worried about what she saw as a lack of scientific rigour across the whole DSM revision. "I felt that there was not enough empirical work being achieved or planned," she says.

The disputes are getting ugly. Senior APA figures have even suggested that Spitzer and Frances are motivated by a desire to safeguard their flow of royalties from clinical guides linked to the current DSM. "The fact that Dr. Frances was informed... that subsequent editions of his DSM-IV associated products would cease when the new edition is finalized, should be considered when evaluating his critique," leading APA figures said in a response to Frances's editorial.

Spitzer and Frances reject this charge. "To suggest that I have no concern other than the royalties is a little absurd," says Spitzer. "My annual royalties from DSM-IV related books are $10,000 per year," notes Frances. "These have nothing to do with concerns I expressed."

Attention has also turned to the financial interests of those working on DSM-V. The APA has ruled that members of the task force and work groups may not receive more than $10,000 per year from industry while working on DSM-V, and must keep their stock holdings below $50,000. This doesn't satisfy Lisa Cosgrove of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, who studies financial conflicts in psychiatry (New Scientist, 29 April 2006, p 14). She notes that the APA's ruling places no limit on industry research grants, and has found that the proportion of DSM-V panel members who have industry links is exactly the same as it was for DSM-IV, at 56 per cent (The New England Journal of Medicine, vol 360, p 2035).

The final version of DSM-V is scheduled to be published in 2012, but given the level of controversy and the need to test whether psychiatrists can reliably use the proposed diagnoses, that date seems certain to slip.

For now, there is an uneasy ceasefire, but next month the work groups will post their proposed changes on the APA's website. Stand by for renewed hostilities.

Editorial: Psychiatry's bible: Its time has passed

Brazilian dictatorship torture - OFF TOPIC

I am very sorry for this off-topic but I just came across with this and I have to share it with someone or I will explode.

Brazil behaves as if dictatorship never happened. It's amazing!

We deal with torture in mental institution so it is not that off-topic. This is political torture and they are, or should be, brought to society when the dictatorship is over.

Dictatorship should be eradicated from the world. It is unacceptable.

"Torture is institutionalized under regimes like these, a deliberate political and social policy, a calculated strategy of widespread intimidation which goes far beyond the old abuses of police interrogation. The secret character of torture is only ambiguously maintained: protests against it in the congress or the press are rare and swiftly punished, but when suspects are arrested it is routine to beat them in the sight and hearing of their neighbors. The population at large must know something of disappearance, enough to be afraid: the opposition must know more, enough to despair. There are circles of awareness, but within the System itself, there is hardly any pretense: the Report of the Archdiocese, compiled from the official records of the military courts themselves, gives a frank and open picture. Once in the custody of OBAN or DOI-CODI, very few escaped torture; but most victims did not refer to it when they finally reached the courtroom, silenced by their own fear or a well-grounded sense of futility as well as the advice of council. Nevertheless, of the seven thousand defendants tried in this period, nearly two thousand had the temerity to speak out in such a court, testifying that they had been tortured and protesting against it. Although their courage had no effect and allegations of torture were ignored and dismissed, the information they provided, information the military regime did not even think to suppress, is invaluable and gives us an understanding of the process.

Torture had a budget and staff, training procedure, study and teaching methods, was regarded as a science. There are classes, classrooms, visual aids, technical terms, and apparatus: slide photographs of torture are followed with practical demonstrations on prisoners. The classes are described in the testimony of the prisoners who were used as live subjects in classes where acknowledged experts like Lieutenant Hayton would instruct large groups of eighty or one hundred army personnel, the lecture and photographs followed with practical "hands-on" exercises. Dulce Pandolfi, a twenty-four-year-old university student, was used as a guinea pig for torture classes in the barracks on Barao de Mesquita Street in Rio: "stripped naked and subjected to beatings and electric shocks and other torments such as the 'parrot's perch.' After being taken to her cell, the defendant was assisted by a doctor*, and after a while, was again tortured with exquisite cruelty in a demonstration of how torture should be carried out." One student prisoner was even used as a subject before an audience of military cadets at a preparatory school. Another prisoner was told as he was being used for demonstration that his torturers were exporting their sophisticated knowledge of the technology of pain and "owed nothing to any foreign organization" in their expertise.

Perhaps they overstated their case: the practice of using live subjects, according to the Report of the Archdiocese [Brazil], was introduced by the American police instructor Dan Mitrione in the early years of the regime: "Mitrione took beggars off the streets and tortured them in classrooms, so that the local police would learn the various ways of creating, in the prisoner, the supreme contradiction between the body and the mind by striking blows to vulnerable points of the body." When Mitrione was transferred to Uruguay to teach policemen there, the use of live subjects could be refined upon.

The methods of torture reported in the military court records are now common throughout the continent. They have names like the "parrot's perch" and the "ice box" and the "dragon chair." In the first, the prisoner's wrists and ankles are tied to an iron bar anchored between two tables, suspended just above the ground. The body is then beaten or shocked with electricity. The dragon chair is a device into which one is strapped for the same purpose. It has a metal seat to increase conduction and an iron bar that pushes the legs backward with each shock, causing deep gashes. Electric shock is produced by army field telephones and various rotary devices called "the little pepper" or "the doubler of tension." Ice boxes are any number of cold and restrictive spaces where the victim is confined for long periods to endure deafening noises, strong light, or lack of ventilation. Insects and animals are also used: snakes, dogs, cockroaches. Every sexual orifice and organ is invaded through these methods: electric shock is typically directed at the most vulnerable parts of the body-the fingers and mouth, as well as the penis, vagina, breasts, and anus. The experience of drowning is created in many ways as water is forced into the mouth through tubes or towels; strangulation is approached by hanging or with a garotte. Victims are made to stand precariously on aluminum cans, or hung on beams as if crucified.

Torture is routinely practiced for a considerable period ever before interrogation begins, for its own sake and without the excuse of obtaining information, to induce terror and despair and to bring about the victim's moral destruction. To complement this, friends and relatives are captured so that emotional ties may be called upon. From the records of the court it is clear that "children were sacrificed before their parents' eyes, pregnant women had miscarriages and wives were subjected to suffering to make them incriminate their husbands." Women prisoners were raped, penetrated with objects, and ritually humiliated by groups of males before whom their vulnerability I was ingeniously exploited.

p251
In Brazil ... the Amnesty of 1979 closed all cases of the regime's crimes against its citizens, and the long list of the 440 torturers printed at the end of the Archdiocese Report-names obtained through the military court's own records of its procedures against their victims-is a list of men now beyond the reach of the law, which includes many still "in service" to the republic.

Force remains immune to justice, even the "moral justice", the Report argues for, having despaired of any other and anxious not to be accused of "revenge." If the rule of law and democracy has returned to Argentina and Brazil, it may be only temporarily; meanwhile it has been extinguished elsewhere.

p252
Somehow the official version is always a lie, and even the most informative reports fail to produce results. Because if a trial ever takes place, the court fails to convict: the witnesses come forward, the bodies are exhumed and analyzed for evidence of torture by experts, yet somehow the military always escapes unscathed. Somehow the national security state maintains its immunity; it is such a general phenomenon now, such a widespread ideology, so essential to the military element and its unchallenged power in the society of the region and its neocolonial mission, that, like a colony of bacteria temporarily in remission, it simply relocates and continues to operate with impunity.

p259

The article is here.

* DOCTOR? I did read it right.

Visit this interesting site - I am away due to medical prescription

I am having serious back problems and went to the physician today. He has forbidden the computer for at least five days and I will have to make therapeutic treatment next week.

So this is the museum I prescribe you to visit:

"We will take you on a journey from turn of the century hand cranked music boxes to modern video arcade games. This is a trip down memory lane. It is a chance to show your children or grandchildren what you did for fun when you were their age. Before video games at home, perhaps before television, perhaps what you remember sitting in your grandparent's parlor

For those of you who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, it is a chance to remember Playland at the Beach, Sutro Baths and the Cliff House. There is our own "Laffing Sal", "Susie the Can-Can Dancer" and the fascinating "Carnival." Other things have been brought in from around the world for your amusement."

Gypsy Queen

Photo by Cathy Lynch

Flickr

You can click at the images to go to the original page.
It's not working. I will put the images later.

CIA searchs for Psychological/Psychiatric Analyst and other careers - applicants must not have used illegal drugs

The Work of a Nation. The Center of Intelligence

Search FieldSearch Button

Career Opportunities CIA Home > Careers > Career Opportunities >Analytical Positions > Psychological/Psychiatric Analyst Psychological/Psychiatric Analyst Work Schedule: Full Time Salary: $86,927 – $153,200 Location: Washington, DC metropolitan area The CIA's Directorate of Intelligence (DI) seeks experienced social and I-O psychologists and psychiatrists to research, analyze, and write assessments of foreign leaders, societal impacts of disease and disaster, and decision-making groups for the most senior US Government policymakers. These analysts would work closely with regional leadership and political analysts throughout the Intelligence Community, as well as other health professionals in government and academia to produce current and longer-term intelligence products. They are encouraged to maintain and to broaden professional ties through outreach to academia, continuing education, and attendance at professional meetings. They also may pursue—and be sponsored for—additional studies in fields relevant to their area of responsibility. Opportunities exist for foreign and domestic travel, language training, analytic and management training, and assignments in other offices in the Agency. Minimum requirements include an M.D., PhD., or Psy.D from an accredited US university in a relevant academic program, at least five years of work experience in a post-graduate, post-supervised practice with adults in a clinical setting that involved some work with normal (neurotic)—preferably high-functioning—populations or practice/research in the nexus of personality and group, organizational or societal dynamics and outcomes related to decision-making, effectiveness, aggression, cooperation, and/or intergroup function. Demonstrated excellent communication and computer skills with the ability to formulate and communicate complex concepts to a lay audience, clearly, concisely, and rapidly and to adjust presentation to different formats, consumers, and purposes are also required. All applicants must successfully complete a thorough medical and psychological exam, a polygraph interview and an extensive background investigation. US citizenship is required. To be considered suitable for Agency employment, applicants must generally not have used illegal drugs within the last twelve months. The issue of illegal drug use prior to twelve months ago is carefully evaluated during the medical and security processing. Important Notice: Friends, family, individuals, or organizations may be interested to learn that you are an applicant for or an employee of the CIA. Their interest, however, may not be benign or in your best interest. You cannot control whom they would tell. We therefore ask you to exercise discretion and good judgment in disclosing your interest in a position with the Agency. You will receive further guidance on this topic as you proceed through your CIA employment processing. To Apply: Make a note of the position(s) that interest you, as you can apply for up to four positions in one application. DO NOT submit multiple applications; this will only slow the review of your application, and delay processing. Please read the Application Instructions carefully before you begin the online application process. Application Instructions An equal opportunity employer and a drug-free work force. Posted: Apr 21, 2007 05:49 PM Last Updated: Jul 22, 2009 03:29 PM Last Reviewed: Jul 22, 2009 03:29 PM

There are other opportunities at this page. I just found it interesting. If the applicant is taking a legal drug will he/she be accepted? Please if you want to try any of these positions don't leave any comment. I don't want to know and I don't want to be in the list of suspects that know you got the job and is a CIA employee. OMG! Why did I publish this post?

Brazil condemned by OAS for crime against psychiatric patient (repost)

I published it last year and I decided to repost it because it is an important as an encouragement for families in search for justice and also as a way to incentive families that remain silent when any crime is practiced against one of their members.

Fight for justice! Never accept money from any laboratory to shut your mouth and cover up the real reason your children got his/her life. I am thinking at Traci Johnson's, the 19 years-old woman that is the photo of my avatar, family that received money from Eli-Lilly not to go to court against the lab.

I am thinking about all the families that have lost their children because of drug-induce violence or who lost their lives to a crime in a psychiatric facility or because of the treatment.

Never surrender!

"After fighting for justice under Brazilian laws Damião Ximenes family was advice by humans right advocates to search for justice elsewhere.

Here you can find the summary off the case:

"On October 1, 1999, Albertina Ximenes placed her son, Damião Ximenes Lopes, in the care of the Casa de Repouso Guarapes, the only psychiatric clinic in the Sobral region. Three days later on October 4, Albertina returned to the clinic to visit Damião, who was suffering from a psychiatric disorder, but was informed that he "was not in a state to receive visits." Dissatisfied, Albertina entered the clinic shouting Damião's name. Damião came to meet her, but was in a deplorable state, bleeding, with various wounds, hematomas and his hands tied. She asked a staff person at the clinic to take him for a bath, and afterwards sought the doctor in charge, Dr. Francisco Ivo de Vasconcelos, Clinical Director of the Casa de Repouso Guararapes, and forensic medical examiner in Sobral. The doctor merely prescribed some medicines, without examining Damião.

When Albertina returned to look for her son again, a cleaner at the clinic told her that a fight had taken place between Damião and the nurses, and as a result of this Damião ended up badly hurt. Albertina found him beside a bed, completely naked with his hands tied. Unable to take Damião away, Albertina returned home. By the time she had returned home, the Casa de Repouso Guararapes had already rung informing her of the death of her son."

After a long process under the OAS the sentence:

"During the 119 th Session of the IACHR in October 2003, the IACHR concluded that the Brazilian State was responsible for violating rights with respect to personal integrity, life, judicial protection and judicial guarantees, foreseen by articles 5, 4, 8 and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights. These violations resulted from the cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of Damião and the torture and subsequent murder within the Casa de Repouso Guararapes. The violation of the obligation to investigate the crimes, of the right to appeal and judicial guarantees were linked to the investigation of the events and the Brazilian judicial system."

"Late last night, 17th August 2006, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, the highest tribunal within the OAS, condemned Brazil for the death of Damião Ximenes Lopes, which occurred on the 4th of October 1999 in the Clínica de Repouso Guararapes, in Sobral, in the state of Ceará."

"The Inter-American Court of Human Rights' sentence in the Damião Ximenes case is the first to deal with the cruel and discriminatory treatment of people suffering from psychological disorders. The acknowledgement by the Court of the vulnerable situation to which these people are subjected widens international jurisprudence, and strengthens the denunciations of organizations working against internment of psychiatric patients, particularly with respect to human rights violations perpetrated within psychiatric institutions."

The Damião Ximenes case should be a lesson for all of those families who want to find justice when there are human rights violations against psychiatric patients.
It's not only in Brazil that there are these violations.
Take a look at OAS 's work.""

This is Just Ana by Juan Ignacio Quaglia. I like this and it's title is the name of this blog.

Obra inspirada por la bailarina de danza contemporánea Ana González Vañek. Realizado en tinta china sobre papel. © Todos los derechos reservados

I have a list of great "Anna" or "Ana" of all times. One day I will publish it.

Big Pharma inside the WHO: confidential analysis of unreleased WHO Expert Working Group draft reports, 8 Dec 2009

I said at this post that WHO does nothing. No! WHO does a lot with the sponsors of the pharmas:

Released December 9, 2009
Summary

This is a confidential pharmaceutical industry trade association dossier about the WHO Expert Working Group (EWG) on R&D Financing.

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA; "Big Pharma") gave its members 4 documents: a non-public draft report of the WHO EWG and a non-public Comparative Analysis done by the working group, the IFPMA Overview of the EWG Comparative Analysis, and IFPMA summary slide on the EWG Draft Report.

The compilation of documents shows the influence of "Big Pharma" on the policy making decisions of the WHO, the UN body safeguarding public health. These confidential documents were obtained by the drug industry before their public release to WHO member states (scheduled to be released May 2010). The document also illustrates that the WHO expert group was highly responsive to industry lobbying — a result that public health groups had feared since early 2009, when the expert group met with the industry, but refused to meet with public health groups known to be industry critics.

The likely audience for these documents include countries, public health policy makers, civil society, industry, academia, media, patients and the general public.

Journalists can contact Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO: chanm@who.int and Malebona Precious Matsoso, WHO Director, Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property: matsosom@who.int

According to our source, the English version of the final report of the EWG with its recommendations is expected to be released to member state countries this week.

Contents

• ewg-comparative-analysis-11-12-09.pdf
• ewg-report-draft-20-11-09.pdf
• ifpma-ewg-final-report-draft.pdf
• ifpma-ewg-internal-mail.pdf
• ifpma-ewg-overview-comparative-analysis.pdf

Help us create a just and corruption free world.

DOWNLOAD/VIEW FULL FILE FROM

Thanks to this comment at Furious Seasons:
Posted by medsvstherapy at December 11, 2009 06:59 AM

IBUP, ELi-Lilly, Department of Psychiatry of São Paulo, UNIMED and UFMG research tobacco dependence in elderly population

You can find the article here.

Valeska Marinho^{1, 2, 3} , Sergio Luís Blay⁴, Sérgio Baxter Andreoli⁴ and Fábio Gastal^{5, 6}

(1)	Center for Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders (CDA), Institute of Psychiatry (IPUB), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ, Brazil

(2)	Eli Lilly and Company, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil

(3)	R. Bento Lisboa, 40/601 – Catete, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22221-011, Brazil

(4)	Dept. of Psychiatry, Escola Paulista de Medicina – UNIFESP, Federal University of São Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil

(5)	Medical School, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG, Brazil), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

(6)	UNIMED, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

Received: 9 March 2007 Accepted: 26 February 2008 Published online: 3 April 2008

Abstract

Objective Evaluate the frequency of current smoking in elderly people living in urban areas of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Methods Cross-sectional design. A representative sample of 6,961 elderly, randomly selected subjects, living in a community, was examined to estimate the frequency of current tobacco smoking. Tobacco use was measured by means of a household questionnaire administered by trained interviewers that inquired about current tobacco use, sociodemographic characteristics, self-rated physical and health status. Mental health was evaluated using the Short Psychiatric Evaluation Schedule (SPES).

Results The prevalence of tobacco use was 28.9% among men, 13.6% among women and 18.8% for both sexes. Male gender (OR = 3.25), low income (OR = 1.52), years of schooling (illiterate) (OR = 1.35), non-Protestant religion (OR = 2.17) and absence of physical exercise (OR = 1.21) presented positive and independent association with tobacco use. Presence of pulmonary disease (OR = 1.93) and mental distress (OR = 1.32) and absence of cardiac disease (OR = 1.51), high blood pressure (OR = 1.51) and diabetes (OR = 1.50) were independently associated with an increased chance of current tobacco use. Increasing age (OR = 0.93) and marital status (married) (OR = 0.66) presented independent and negative association with smoking.

Conclusion Factors associated with an increased chance of tobacco smoking were: being men, illiterate, with lower income, presence of respiratory and mental disease, and absence of cardiac disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Factors associated with a decreased risk of tobacco smoking were: aging, exercise, Protestant religion and marriage.

IBUP - Brazilian University Institute has drug-dealers among patients

I did published last year about a drug-dealer that was arrested at IPUB's facilities. I live in front of this hospital and some drug addicts of the street I live go there to buy cocaine, pot and who knows what else.
"I don't want to talk to a lunatic." was what I heard from a man that was at the garden where the patients stays during the day. A patient approached him, like they all do asking for a cigarette, and he answered this way in the most drug-dealer dialect and intonation.
When I was going away the man was leaving with a girl talking about a certain amount of money.
The Institute is known at the street, and it is already being spread over Rio de Janeiro, as a "ponto de venda" - place where people buy drugs.
I have talked to a psychiatrist that I know that works there and she said "-Oh! Yes. It comes and goes." as if it was normal and as I showed amazement and said that many of the drug addicts that are being treated at IPUB - they have a special project to treat drug addicts PROJAD - go there to get Zyprexa because it is very expensive and keep on using cocaine and other drugs at the same time.
She said: "Why don't you denounce?"
I beg your pardon?
So it is up to ME to denounce? I have already done it last year and nothing changed. I don't think it's ME who should be denouncing and as a psychiatrist she should be taking care not only of the drug addicts who are being drugged by illegal and legal drugs but the safety of the patients that are there because of a mental problem. Some drug addicts are being diagnosed bipolar and they receive all psychiatric immunity for any action they do because the are... crazy!
It is amazing. The director changed but the politics keeps the same. I wonder how much money do the Institute receives for research with medications for psychiatric problems and if they receive from the illegal drugs.
I have to publish it. This is enough.
I wonder what is happening to the other mental institutions. If this is one of the best in Brazil I don't know what is going on with the others.
I know one hospital from that made the patients clean the place had a terrible food and treatment and those who ran it put the money in their own bank account.
This is not a Brazilian privilege. It is like this in many place around the world.
I believe that IPUB will surely take the necessary steps: they will prevent people that enter the hospital to go to the garden where it is all happening.

Clonazepam - Klonopin and Imipramine are teratogen

After reading that "There are about 600 Paxil/Seroxat/Aropax birth defects lawsuits are already outstanding against GlaxoSmithKline," I am checking some of the other psych-drugs that causes birth-defects and found that the benzodiazepine clonazepam Klonopin and the antidepressant Imipramine are both teratogenic:

Klonopin:
Warnings

Pregnancy:

Recent reports indicate an association between the use of anticonvulsant drugs and an elevated incidence of birth defects in children born to epileptic women taking such medication during pregnancy. The incidence of congenital malformations in the general population is regarded to be approximately 2%; in children of treated epileptic women this incidence may be increased 2 to 3 fold. The increase is largely due to specific defects, e.g., congenital malformations of the heart, and cleft lip and/or palate. Nevertheless, the great majority of mothers receiving anticonvulsant medications deliver normal infants.

Imipramine:

Pregnancy:

The safety of imipramine in pregnancy has not been established. Neonates whose mothers had taken imipramine up until delivery have shown symptoms such as dyspnea, lethargy, colic, irritability, hypotension or hypertension, tremor or spasms during the first few hours or days.

Therefore, imipramine should not be administered to women of childbearing potential, particularly during the first trimester and the last 7 weeks of pregnancy, unless in the opinion of the physician the potential benefit to the patient outweighs the possible hazards to the fetus.

That is it! Great news! Klonopin, clonazepam is being prescribed for almost all the population in Brazil. When I go to drugstores there is always someone buying Rivotril, the Brazilian brand-name. If not I ask the pharmacist how are the sales and they say it sells at least one box every half an hour.

It's cheap but it is being prescribed for any emotional problem. As always psychiatrists claim that it helps many patients and that it only takes a slowly withdrawal. I came across with the list of clonazepam withdrawal symptoms. It is hell.

I will publish it tomorrow.

It's too much! I am tired. After having my word taken as if I was out of this planet by a psychiatrist, one more time, one more time, I don't want to talk about it.

Sometimes I believe that these people simply don't have a clue about what they are doing to patients. Seriously! Although this psychiatrist is a researcher and a very known psychiatrist with a real interest in his patients, but I have already heard from two patients that they are taking the "research drugs", ... Does this man is really...

Jesus! I cannot believe. I'm amazed to say the least.

PS He knows about my blog but he doesn't give a damn. I have already told him my story thousand of times and he never knows what has really happened to me. He will diagnose me bipolar, for sure!

Today is Humans Right Day - WHO does nothing and others keep silent - Thank you all bloggers who are fighting this war and are really advocating

And this is what WHO has written about health:

Health and human rights

WHO Constitution: "the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being..."

Every country in the world is now party to at least one human rights treaty that addresses health-related rights. This includes the right to health as well as other rights that relate to conditions necessary for health.

The role of the Health and Human Rights Team is to:

• Strengthen the capacity of WHO and its Member States to integrate a human rights-based approach to health.
  
  
• Advance the right to health in international law and international development processes.
  
  
• Advocate for health-related human rights.

:: For an overview of WHO's work in health and human rights, click here [pdf 98kb]


Funny because WHO is not saying anything against the hideous side effects of psych-drugs or that these drugs are addictive and I have already send them e-mails back in 2005 and got no reply.
I thank all the bloggers that are trying to raise awareness about one of the most important topics about Humans Rights violations:

Informing people about the dangers of antidepressants, anti-psychotics and other psych-drugs that are being pushed to many people either they need them or not.

I want to thanks Philip Dawdy for his work at Furious Seasons, yes I am talking one more time about Philip Dawdy, because he is the sole journalist that is doing a real journalistic approach while the mainstream media is following the rules of the pharmaceutical industry and lying to the people to say the least.
He also has made many people start their own blog and I am one of them.
Thank you Philip Dawdy. You are really helping to raise awareness on this violation of Humans Right: the right to be informed; the right to be heard; name it... too many Humans Right violations against psychiatric patients and people who started taking these drugs because of greed of politicians all over the world, shareholders and who knows WHO else.
It will be known as a crime against humanity in the future. We are talking about teratogenic medicines; medicines that affect mind, body and soul.

Happy Humans Right Day!

PS: I have joined the Blog Unites for this event Humans Right Day. They are doing a good job fighting for Humans Right in countries like Iran, China, Myanmar, China, Burundi and many others where people are physically restrained.
It seems that US and Europe are doing very well in what Humans Right is concerned.
I have this post on the list and a comment a did. I hope they publish it of they think about it's importance.

- Senator Grassley has asked 33 medical groups for information about the financial backing they get from the pharmaceutical, medical device and insura

..nce industries.
I have just read it at Furious Seasons and visited the link:
IowaPolitics.com
After receiving so many bad news about how the pharmas are working hard to sell more and more anti-psychotics, antidepressants I feel like copying the whole news:

U.S. Sen. Grassley: Grassley works for disclosure of drug company payments to medical groups
12/8/2009



WASHINGTON --- Senator Grassley has asked 33 medical groups for information about the financial backing they get from the pharmaceutical, medical device and insurance industries.

“These organizations have a lot of influence over public policy, and people rely on their leadership. There’s a strong case for disclosure and the accountability that results,” Grassley said.

Grassley said his inquiry follows a review of industry support for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, where he questioned the organization’s national office and state chapters. The Alliance subsequently adopted a new policy of publicly releasing industry support over $5,000. “It’d be good for the system if other organizations would follow NAMI’s lead in this area,” Grassley said.

For several years, Grassley has conducted extensive oversight and sought disclosure of financial ties with industry from research physicians, medical schools, medical journals, continuing medical education, and the patient advocacy community. He has worked to expose cases where there was vast disparity between drug-company payments received and reported by leading medical researchers. In response to Grassley’s work, the National Institutes of Health is working on new disclosure guidelines for federal grant recipients.

Grassley is also working for congressional passage of reform legislation he has sponsored with Senator Herb Kohl. Their bipartisan Physician Payments Sunshine Act would require annual public reporting by drug, device and biologic manufacturers of payments made to physicians nationwide.

“I’m interested in transparency,” Grassley said. “Letting the sun shine in and making information public is basic to building people’s confidence in medical research, education and the practice of medicine,” Grassley said.

This week, t he senator’s letters of inquiry were sent to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Alzheimer’s Association, the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Surgeons, the American Dental Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association, the American Heart Association, the American Hospital Association Inc., the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, the American Society of Health–System Pharmacists, the American Society of Hypertension, Inc., the American Society of Nephrology, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the Heart Rhythm Society, Mental Health America, NARSAD, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the North American Spine Society, Screening for Mental Health Inc., the National Center for Mental Checkups at Columbia University (TeenScreen), The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the American Cancer Society.

Here is the text of Grassley’s letter.

December 7, 2009

Dear _________________:

The United States Senate Committee on Finance (Committee) has jurisdiction over the Medicare and Medicaid programs and, accordingly, a responsibility to the more than 100 million Americans who receive health care coverage under these programs. As Ranking Member of the Committee, I have a duty to protect the health of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and safeguard taxpayer dollars authorized by Congress for these programs.

For the last three years, the Committee has been looking into various aspects of the pharmaceutical industry, including consulting arrangements, and industry funding for Continuing Medical Education (CME). My inquiry was spurred, in part by press accounts documenting the lack of transparency in the relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and nonprofit organizations. For instance, in April 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported that industry representatives, including ten major drug companies, formed a coalition to promote looser restrictions on off-label marketing. [1] The coalition asked the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to speak in favor of this issue.

On October 6th of this year, I sent letters to all fifty state chapters of NAMI asking them to disclose income from pharmaceutical companies. In that letter, I explained that NAMI National receives almost two-thirds of its funding from the drug industry. [2] I learned recently that a few days after I sent those letters, one of the founders of NAMI and member of the NAMI National Board of Directors emailed his resignation, stating that he was shocked at NAMI’s reliance on pharmaceutical industry funding. In particular he said: “This financial dependency presents a number of problems.”

In response to my concerns, NAMI began to disclose publicly on its website, any amount of funding exceeding $5,000 that it received from pharmaceutical companies and other foundations. This decision in favor of transparency by NAMI is encouraging.

In April of this year, the Institute of Medicine issued a report endorsing transparency and stating that protections against conflicts can be established without inhibiting productive relationships between medicine and industry to improve medical knowledge and care. I am hoping you can assist me in this effort by providing additional insights into these relationships as well as any changes in transparency that your organization may be planning for in the future. Operating with transparency sends a message that there is nothing to hide.

Accordingly, I would appreciate an accounting of industry funding that pharmaceutical, medical device companies, foundations established by these companies or the insurance industry have provided to the (Organization) (The term “industry funding” means any transfer of value, including but not limited to grants, donations, and sponsorship for meetings or programs, etc.) This request covers the period of January 2006 to the present.

Because reporting practices vary widely from one charitable organization to another, I would appreciate you also placing this income into a chart, detailing annual amounts of industry funding. For each year, please provide the following information for (Organization) :

1) Year;

2) Name of company;

3) Amount of funding; and

4) Reason(s) that the funding was provided.

In addition, please explain (Organization) policies for accepting industry funding and the disclosure requirements of your top executives and board members by answering the following questions. For each question, please respond by first repeating the enumerated question followed by the appropriate answer. Again, this request covers the period of January 2006 to the present:

1) Please describe the policies for accepting industry funding and whether or not (Organization) allows companies to place restrictions or provide guidance on how funding will be spent.

2) If (Organization) allows companies to place restrictions on industry funding, then please explain all restrictions and/or guidance for each transfer of value from industry. For every transfer of value with a restriction, please provide the following information: year of transfer, name of company, and restriction placed on funding.

3) Please explain what policies, if any that(Organization) plans to adopt to ensure transparency of funding in order to provide a greater public trust in the independence of your organization.

4) Please explain your policies on disclosure of outside income by your top executives and board members.

5) Please provide the disclosures of outside income filed with your organizations by your top executives and board members.

In cooperating with the Committee’s review, no documents, records, data or information related to these matters shall be destroyed, modified, removed or otherwise made inaccessible to the Committee.

I look forward to hearing from you by no later than December 21, 2009.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley United States Senator Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance

We are waiting Senator Grassley! We want the names! No later than December, 21, 2009!

Bob Fiddaman cuts off ties with MHRA over their failure to admit that Seroxat/Paxil/Aropax is teratogen

I received this e-mail from Bob Fiddaman at Seroxat Sufferers and I want to publish it:

Dear all,

I haven't sent a mass email out for some time.

Some of you will know that I have cut off ties with the MHRA, basically over their failure to highlight the fact that Seroxat/Paxil is a teratogen. They are, I believe, once again, not acknowledging the evidence that is out there.

I sent the MHRA a lengthy email stating the reasons why I no longer wish to continue corresponding with them - I have met them on 5 separate occasions.

This has resulted in the CEO of the MHRA, Kent Woods, sending me an email, an email that was 13 months overdue.

The email and my response can be viewed here - http://fiddaman.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-reply-to-mhra-ceo-kent-woods.html

There is a serious problem here that the MHRA will not address.

Please pass on this email and/or link to those on your list, tweet it or Facebook it.

I am in no doubt that the MHRA are not safeguarding the public with regard to Seroxat being a teratogen [a drug that causes abnormalities in fetuses] - and the more people that know about this, the better.

Thank you for your time

Fid

That is appalling. This is the regulatory agency that is taking care of British people health. FDA does the same and regulates not only US market but also some of those who have poor regulation.
Crimes against humanity that is what you are doing.