So, you REALLY want Government sponsored health care?

A new report from the FDA suggests that recent problems with heparin have proven to be even worse than originally thought.  The report concludes that deaths linked to all versions of heparin–including a tainted version of the drug sold by Baxter–have tripled. There now are 62 reports of patients dying who were infused with heparin from January 1, 2007 through the end of this past March who had a one or more allergic reactions. A prior FDA report had only listed 19 deaths. At present, the FDA isn’t sure what caused the spike in adverse reactions. Right now, they’re suggesting that this is more of matter of delays in reports from companies and a growth in reports from consumers reading about Baxter’s problems.

The FDA’s job is to PROTECT consumers from this kind of travesty!  Yet, it appears that the Government’s real job is to get drugs to the market as soon as possible and then cover its backside when things go wrong.  Unfortunately, the consumer loses!  If you can’t trust the FDA to prevent stuff like this from happening, how can you be confident of ANY FDA approved drug for whatever ailment for which you might be treated?

Stay healthy!  Avoid drugs when you can.

Avandia: Another case of betrayed trust

According to the US Food & Drug Administration, GlaxoSmithKline didn’t turn over post-marketing data about Avandia to the agency, a lack of disclosure that looks pretty sinister given subsequent reports linking Avandia to increased risk of heart attack.  Many drug companies fail to report post-approval data to the FDA once they begin selling a drug, since the rules for such reporting are at best somewhat loose.  But in Glaxo’s case, the failure to report arguably could have harmed consumers, given the risks exposed by last year’s article in the New England Journal of Medicine. The agency now is demanding that the company turn over all data on Avandia, pronto, or risk regulatory action.

Why do I even mention drugs?  As a chiropractor, I don’t put people on drugs and I don’t take them off drugs.  So, why bother?  Because, the whole concept of “better living through chemistry” is killing Americans in droves.  There’s a better way!  Staying healthy and relying on the design of the body to BE healthy is a much better way to live.  The “science” so many Americans have come to rely upon to keep them healthy has become little more than a shell game to deceive the public, create false demand and extract as much money from consumers and their insurance companies in as little time as possible.  That’s why this chiropractor talks about drugs.

Study: Very few child drug trials get outside oversight

A new study suggests that drug trials involving children get shockingly little oversight from outside safety monitoring groups. The study, which reviewed 739 international trials mounted between 1996 and 2002, concluded that only one of every 50 such drug trials were overseen by outside safety groups. Of those that did use monitoring groups, six were stopped because of signs of toxicity. Also, adverse side effects were reported in 37 percent of all trials, and about one in ten produced moderate to severe–and sometimes life-threatening–side effects.
Why such a lapse in oversight? Experts note that drug trials for children are, themselves, a relatively new thing. In the past, children have been given the same medicines as adults without there having been any separate trials, despite the differing metabolisms.

NOTE: This should scare the heck out of you.  According to this study, only 1 out of 50 drug trials involving kids is monitored by anyone other than the drug company doing the tests!  AND, there were adverse events (meaning BAD side effects) in over 1/3 of those trials.

There IS a better way to raise children to be healthy WITHOUT dangerous drugs.  I take care of kids at no additional cost when the parent is a member of my practice.  I believe in truly DRUG-FREE families.

Increase seen in drug-resistant germs

I found this story on Modern Healthcare Online.  The overuse and abuse of antibiotics in this country is having unforeseen and potentially disastrous effects.  Already, strains of drug resistant staph infections are widespread in hospitals.  We run the very real risk of CREATING our own superbug resistant to everything and anything we have to throw at it.

Isn’t it better to build health naturally so that when (or if) you may need antibiotics they might actually be able to help?

Here’s the article.

Story posted: March 18, 2008 - 4:15 pm EDT

The number of germs resistant to antibiotics is growing, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

The institute, which will have an article in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, found one in five of the 94,360 patients who developed an invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, infection in 2005 died. In addition, 20% of tuberculosis cases worldwide are drug-resistant, with 10% “extensively” drug-resistant, and in 2002 14% of certain bloodstream infections were resistant to antibiotics, up from 4% in 1993, the institute said in its report.

The national institute spends more than $800 million per year on antimicrobial clinical research, through which it hopes to understand the causes of drug resistance and develop specific diagnostic tests for infections that are likely to become resistant. — by Jean DerGurahian

Drugs in Your Drinking Water

This drug-culture thing has simply gone too far! The Associated Press released the results of a months long investigation into the drinking water of dozens of major US cities and found traces of various medications in the water supply. If every drug has a side effect, how would some of these drugs affect a healthy person, especially with prolonged undetected exposure?

How long before the Congress tries to pass legislation making it impossible to sue drug manufacturers or municipal water treatment agencies for health problems caused by exposure to dangerous drugs in our drinking water?

AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water.

States combat drug reps to cut costs

A small but growing number of advocates have begun working to provide their own brand of drug education to doctors–without the sales message that pharmaceutical companies deliver. These “counter-detailers,” as they are known in some quarters, are paid by groups outside the industry to visit with doctors and provide neutral, hype-free information on medications. Previously, we told you about one effort, paid for by the state of Pennsylvania, which sent out 500 clinicians to discuss prescribing options.

Over the past year, it appears that the idea has become more popular. Today, a handful of states, including Pennsylvania, Vermont and South Carolina, have rolled out programs presenting drug cost and effectiveness information. Vermont’s program focuses on rural medical practices, and South Carolina’s focuses on mental-health drugs. Pennsylvania, which spends $1 million a year on its “unsales” force, has reported that it managed to cut costs on drugs for seniors with the program; for example, the state began saving $60 on average per doctor on pain relievers within six months after an unsales visit. However, it’s not clear the others are successful. (Small wonder, given that the pharmaceutical industry spends more than $7 billion a year on direct marketing to doctors.)

Here’s a link to the full article.

American Healthcare: A Failed Paradigm

One of the overriding issues in America is health care. It affects virtually every aspect of domestic policy, including politics, business, the economy and personal lives of Americans from the poor to the very rich.

Sadly, in this current political season the answer seems to NOT be on solutions other than offer us more of the same with so-called “universal coverage” for everyone.  In other words, the system we have now sucks, so everyone should suffer through it equally.  When I discuss this, my Conservative and Liberal friends respond with something like, “What do you mean?  We have the best health care system in the world!”  But still, both sides simply approach the problem as an insurance problem.  Too bad.

In my mind, the problem with health care in America is that the entire paradigm is flawed.   From birth, we’re indoctrinated into the disease model and that drugs can prevent or cure any mallady.  In other words, we must prevent and fight disease.

So, we start babies off with “their shots”.  While I believe vaccination should be a matter of choice, the number and types of shots recommended for babies and toddlers really is an assault on their developing immune system and is downright scary.  Then throughout their early school years, many kids are “diagnosed” with ADD/ADHD and given narcotics grade drugs to force them to sit still so they can do better in school.  And then (ironically)  complain about athletes taking drugs to enhance their performance.  Strange.

As we enter adulthood, we’re convinced that giving birth is a traumatic and dangerous event that must be handled strictly in a medical setting.  Why aren’t women in modern America told that giving birth is a natural, beautiful thing for which they were uniquely designed.  Instead of empowering women to do what they were naturally designed for, we scare them into compliance with a pathological, allopathic model of childbirth.

Further into adulthood, Americans are checked routinely for cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes and a host of other chronic conditions.  And when measures creep outside established norms, they’re put on medications to force that particular reading to what the doctor thinks is right.  Unfortunately, every drug has a side effect.  And, we Americans hardly ever ask our doctors “What is in this drug?” or “What are some potential side effects of this drug?” or “How will this affect me with the other drugs I’m taking?”  Instead, we simply comply.

Then as we enter middle age, we start seeing problems like liver and kidney failure, congestive heart failure, etc. and become regular visitors to the local hospital.  As the drugs either no longer work or our bodies start to shut down from weird symptoms that can’t easily be classified, we begin to “doctor shop” to find someone who can come up with an accurate diagnosis.

Eventually, we end up in a nursing home being given dozens of different drugs and put through untold numbers of tests until our bodies finally give in and give up.  From birth to death we are taught to fear and fight fever, vomit and diarrhea.  And because our focus is on disease, we create disease.  Two of the largest and most profitable industries in America just happen to be insurance and drug companies.  have you noticed all the new “diseases” being advertised on TV, like “Restless Leg Syndrome”, GERD and a host of others?  And, have you checked to see how much money those industries invest in advertising and political lobbying?

So, what’s the solution?  Well first, we must recognize that our entire premise is wrong from the start.  Just like our education system and tax code, we need a whole new way of thinking.  Maybe it was Einstein who said “No problem can be solved with the same level of thinking that created the it in the first place”.

Instead of a system that makes someone else responsible for finding or preventing a disease; or your employer (or worse, the Government) paying for your “health” insurance; or expecting Medicare/Medicaid to pay for your dying care, we should give individuals responsibility for their own health.

In a wellness paradigm, you start with the premise that you’re supposed to be healthy!  Instead of sitting around watching TV, eating junk food and smoking cigarettes, we encourage folks to exercise, stay fit, eat better and do those things that keep them healthy and out of harm’s way.  Instead of a mangled care system that minimize the time you spend with “a” doctor, you find the doctor that’s right for you and develop the kind of relationship that makes you  healthier and gives you greater control over your health and your life.

After all, this is STILL America, “home of the FREE and land of the BRAVE”!  The American pioneer spirit has always been responsible for our strength and prosperity.  We should get rid of this “plantation mentality” where the Government or an employer should take care of us.  As one writer wrote, “you are endowed with the seed of greatness”.  By realizing and pursuing that greatness in every aspect of life in America, we can restore our nation’s health and vitality and reduce our dependence on drug makers and insurance companies.

Live the very best life you can.  Don’t give your freedom and power to anyone!

Health insurance and retroactive cancellations

Apparently, a health insurance industry group is trying to address the problem of insurers cancelling policies that have already been issued.  For the full text of this Wall Street Journal article, just foll the link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120408088594795743.html

Profit Over Patient: Ethics and the Business of Healthcare

I have a love-hate relationship with the healthcare profession.  On the one hand, it’s gratifying beyond words to be able to help people improve their health and their lives.  On the other hand, the business of healthcare may be doing more harm than good, in some cases.

In my own practice as a chiropractor, I often hear someone say,”This is awesome!  I never thought I could feel this good again”.  Unfortunately, I often hear those same people say something like, “Why haven’t I heard about this before now?” or “Why did I have to suffer so long when this has always been available?” or worse yet, “I don’t guess my doctor was telling me the truth about what you do.”

But, not all the bad I hear is about medicine or medical doctors.  Sometimes it’s something like “I went to one of you guys once.  And, I know the adjustments helped.  But, the guy ran up a huge bill and then quit seeing me when the insurance payments stopped” or “I just don’t think I can afford it right now.  My insurance doesn’t cover it.”

I’m an advocate of allowing the free market to resolve the problems with health care.  However, the free market is not allowed to express itself fully in the business of health care in America. Here are some specific problems I have with the business of healthcare and some different ways of dealing with them:

• The Money Grub - There’s a practice called “exhaustion of benefits” in the healthcare business that spans every specialty.  The provider asks for your insurance card to verify benefits.  Not surprisingly, their recommendations for care tend to coincide with what your insurance carrier says they’ll pay.  Possible solution:  Verify your own benefits and get your provider’s recommendation BEFORE verifying coverage OR see what their recommendations are if you paid cash at the time you received the service.
• Fear-mongering - This is where you’re told “You MUST have this procedure or take this drug or you’ll die!”  This is using pure power on the doctor’s part and the patient’s ignorance to almost force them to do what the doctor tells them.  Possible solution:  Patient’s deserve to be told the truth in rational, unemotional terms what their specific problem is and what the doctor’s recommendations are.
• (Not so) Full disclosure - There’s a tendency in health care to tell folks to “Sign these forms so we can get started”.  You have a right to know exactly what the doctor has found, what his/her recommendations are, what the risks of those recommendations are and what alternatives to this procedure or drug that exist WITHOUT injecting any bias the doctor may have.  Possible solution:  Doctor’s should take time to get to know their patients.  Ask probing questions and give honest answers.  Be honest about their lack of knowledge when it exists, especially about less aggressive alternatives.
• Too  anxious to be too invasive - Sometimes as doctors, there’s the urge to DO SOMETHING now!  The haste to act now, can make things worse than if nothing were done, at all.  Possible solution:  One of the safest and most valuable tools in the doctor’s bag of tricks is something we call “watchful waiting”, where you give your body time to resolve a potential problem on its own without aggressive treatment.
• OOPS! - Sometimes, health care providers make mistakes.  Unfortunately, too many times the problem is covered to prevent lawsuits or unwanted exposure.  Possible solution:  I heard someone say once, “Sunlight is the best antibiotic”.  It’s best to simply tell the truth.  The cover-up will always cause more problems than the problem being covered up.
• Just too expensive - Because of third party reimbursement, health care in America has simply gotten too expensive.  Possible solution:  Providers should be allowed to compete on a variety of different levels, including price, form of payment, type of service provided, etc.

Because the economics of healthcare are distorted by Government controls and intervention, as well as third party reimbursement, the free market is not allowed to properly regulate the business.  As a result, doctors, hospitals and drug makers have an extra duty to “do no harm” to those who must rely on their relative power in the marketplace.  The Internet now makes information too easily available to continue the imbalance of power between patient and provider.

I urge healthcare providers to always do the right thing.  Make sure your patients are fully informed and involved in their care.  Give them exceptional value.  Empower them to make better choices.  As for patients and the public at large, take charge of your health and your life.  Inform yourself of your alternatives.  Ask questions.  And continue asking until you’re satisfied that you’ve gotten the right information and ALL the information you need to make fully informed choices regarding your own health.  After all, it IS your responsibility.

Is MORE insurance REALLY the answer?

During this political season, there’s a great deal of talk about the healthcare crisis in America. One of the area of concern seems to be the “47 million” Americans without health insurance. It seems like the political response these days is to make sure every American has health insurance EVEN if the Government has to penalize you for NOT having it.

Is forcing people to buy insurance they may not want (or need) really the answer? I don’t think so. Why should a young person who is healthy and who does the things to stay healthy be compelled to buy insurance when he/she might have other priorities? And, isn’t it THEIR right to decide how to spend or invest their own money?

As a health care provider, I really have to ask the question, “What (if any) is the link between insurance and health, anyway?” From what I see from this side of things, many Americans only go to a doctor BECAUSE they have insurance OR a health crisis. And is it just me, but when was the last time an insurance company paid for things that keep you healthy?

When was the last time you heard of a “health insurance” policy that paid for your health club membership, weight loss or nutrition classes, smoking cessation programs or even a licensed wellness practitioner? Yet, most insurance companies will pay for disease care AFTER you’ve already lost your health. Where the heck is the logic?

If it were REALLY “Health” insurance, wouldn’t it pay to keep you OUT of the hospital? As much as we tout ours as the “World’s Best Healthcare System”, isn’t it ironic that by most measures ours is one of the worst in the industrialized world? Maybe it’s time we started focusing on HEALTH in America and NOT so much on disease detection and management. Detection and management of disease is far different than wellness OR prevention.

Finally, do you REALLY trust your health to the same people who run Social Security, Medicare or the Katrina relief effort. This is NOT an indictment of any Presidential administration. It’s an indictment on the effectiveness of our Government to run your personal life. If the Government can’t do the things IT thinks it should, how do you think it will manage YOUR health?

Remember, it’s YOUR health and YOUR life! Don’t wait for Uncle Sam to save you. Do what it takes to stay healthy: eat better, exercise more, sleep restfully, watch your thoughts, poison yourself less and find a good wellness chiropractor.