To be read in conjunction with Little Red Riding Hood.
Once a newly qualified doctor, wearing her red stethoscope, set out to treat an older woman, bringing medicines and the milk of human kindness. As the doctor was walking through the hospital, the medical director came up to her and asked where she was going.
“To Mrs Clinton’s bedside”, she replied.
“Which path are you taking, the path of clinical experience or the path of the guidelines?” “The path of the guidelines”.
So the medical director took the path of clinical experience and arrived first at the bedside. Mrs Clinton was dead. She had been taking warfarin and a device the hospital had been supplied for free as part of a Xarelto clinical trial had malfunctioned and she had had a stroke.
The medical director drained her blood and poured it into a bottle, sliced her flesh onto a platter, and stored it in the fridge. Then he called an inquiry. Little Red Stethoscope was summoned.
“Knock, knock.”
“Come in, my dear”.
“Hello, I’ve brought with me the medicines and milk I was bringing to Mrs Clinton as you asked.”
“Have something yourself, my dear. The lunch on the table in front of you is free”.
Little Red ate what she was offered. As she did, an app on her phone said: “Slut to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Mrs Clinton!”
“Then the medical director said, “While waiting for a report on Mrs Clinton’s death, you will have to be suspended”.
“Where shall I put my white coat?”
“Throw it in the sluice room; you won’t need it any more”.
“For each item ‑ pager, ophthalmoscope, radiation badge ‑ Little Red asked the same question; and each time the medical director answered, “Throw it in the sluice room; you won’t need it anymore.”
When she was finished Little Red said to the medical director, “Oh! How hairy you are!”
“Yes its the testosterone – power does this to you, my dear.”
“Oh! What big shoulders you have !”
“All the better to carry my laptop, my dear”.
“Oh! What manicured hands and nails you have ?”
“Its for writing reports better, my dear !”
“Oh! What big teeth you have !”
“Its for eating you better, my dear.”
And he sank his teeth into her with a report that made her solely responsible for Mrs Clinton’s death.
Little Red Riding Hood and Little Red Stethoscope are both cautionary tales about risks and their management. When I began training, no-one ever heard the words Risk Management even though medicine was obviously about managing risks.
Several decades later, Risk Management was everywhere with most nurses and doctors spending their time managing any risks there might be to the organization that employs them.
When I began training medical directors were in the business of guiding junior doctors down the path of clinical experience as they recognized that the best way to manage risks was to have the best possible people in place. Whatever about surgical procedures, the idea that risks could be managed by ticking boxes was famously met with a response – we’re not running a Chinese take-away here.
Medical directors now are more concerned about the brand value of the organization they work for and their own brand within it than they are for any patients or staff.
When I began training everyone bought their own stethoscope and they were all grey. Then somewhere toward the end of training red stethoscopes appeared. They initially came as gifts from drug companies. Where could the problem come from having a red stethoscope? Surely the more stethoscopes around the place, whatever their color, the better.
Some day a Coby and Mina Grimm may update the Red Stethoscope story – giving it an alternate ending, in which someone, could be Little Red herself, strangles the medical director with a red stethoscope. As long as no-one offers an “interpretation” that this feature reveals that the true meaning of the story lies in a latent lust for power, the essential meaning will not have been perverted.
Were it not such a ‘grim tale (!)’ it would be a comedy. Where is it going to end though? ‘Personal responsibility’ no longer seems to count in any field of ‘business’ – mainly because everything has been given a business format. ‘Hire and fire’ seems to be the order of the day – and the ‘fired’ walks away to another equally lucrative post provided they were near enough to the top in the first place. We see it with football managers at the moment – one was fired because his team was not doing well. Almost immediately, his name was being suggested as a replacement within another team that was suddenly failing. Has the word ‘failure’ lost its true meaning? If you ‘fail’, surely that means that you dust yourself down, re-think the situation and try again – but not any more. Now it seems to be “I’ll do only what I have to, I’ll hope I don’t get found out, if I do I’ll blame the others and then, before they get rid of me I’ll move on, plenty will be glad of my ‘expertise'”. It seems that the more they earn the less they want the responsibilities; this leads to a lack of acceptance that ‘consequences’ come hand in hand with ‘responsibilities’ and ‘a fat wallet’. I wonder how they see their role? If they should ask my opinion I’m afraid it would be a rather impolite, negative reply. Maybe they should be told ‘if you don’t like the heat, get out of the kitchen – you’re not the only ones who can use a microwave’!!
I wanna wish you all a better year 2016.
Thank you all who comment on Davids small impact-pieces.
Thank you “Annie”, “Leonie”, “Ang”, “Laurie”, “truthman” and all of you.
Let’s hope Seroxat/Paxil mysteriously dissappears of the pharmacy-shelfs next year.
I’m giving it a shot later tonight and make that my wish.
From a cold Sweden, Ove.
So– Little Red Stethoscope – and her humanistic heart are sacrificed to protect the company whose device, contributed to the patient’s death; the young idealistic doctor gets the axe so that the medical director can maintain good relations with one of his new benefactors?
No– not about power, but simply about money. Though, it should be noted that wealth does provide a particular kind of power– that protects the self indulgent, *selfish* nature it brings out in most humans : the power to avoid consequences for damages to the *peasants*.
The conscience that would impede exploiting the masses is long gone– . It could be said that the etiology of some of the most dangerous [*to others*} psychopathology , giving rise to all sorts of insane delusions, is wealth.
I am struggling with the moral of Little Red Stethoscope — a story that follows the original version of Red Riding Hood, which was rich with cautions, or rather practical ways to *manage risks* in our dangerous world.
In the original Red Riding Hood, we see the potential for being mislead, and for being what we want to see, (or taste) as opposed to what is really in front of our eyes (or o our plates).
Now, then, what sort of cautions could our dear Little Red Stethoscope employ to assure herself a role to bring aide, comfort and medicine to the sick? By that I mean, actually attaining all requisite credentials and securing employment as a physician? I cannot see a route for her that bypasses all the mines that have been cleverly laid on her path.
What I found, after running the gauntlet as a mere nurse- though to my credit, I once owned a Tycos Triple Head stethoscope, which I wore when I worked on Critical Coronary Care units. I currently have a *retired* Litton and a tale of *professional* defeat on the front lines
of what passes for psychiatric, mental health care these days; what I found was a path to nowhere. By that I mean, thee is no institution or facility that I work from pr direct people to– so much as I give whatever support, care and comfort I can offer with the tools and skills I gathered along the way. I do not bill for consultations, but survive via the *kindness* of family, friends and total strangers.
Makes me wonder if the timeless, universal message encoded in the pure form of folk tales ( and all really great myths) is an admonishment to acknowledge and develop one’s own personal power–, like the *magic* that saved the world from the darkest wizard of all in Harry Potter; it amounts to what is within us already. Which path we take depends on what is in our hearts.
I wholeheartedly agree with your last sentence – if we remain true to ourselves we won’t go far wrong. If we continue to treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves, stand up for what we know to be the truth, put the needs of others ahead of our own needs and live each day as if that were the very day upon which we were to be judged, isn’t it possible that we’ll manage to create a better world – or at least a small corner of it – and that our small light will shine in the darkness that at present seems to almost overwhelm us?
hi, THE RECOVERY COLLEGE is good. Front line experience also 🙂 recommend of you have not heard of it. best wishes
Mary, just one thing to add–and stir the pot 🙂
The whole concept of our *being judged* , which even without referencing any particular religion, indicates we are inferior to *some other entity* – which I reject for many reasons, but…
There is no doubting that positive, joy -filled energy is the reward for devoting ourselves to caring for and about others. I agree that we are making a better world just by persevering through the obstacles that appear to either obstruct or tempt us away from our goals, but we also become stronger in the process. I really believe this is the basic formula for creating a better world. – And realizing the power of our thoughts, words and actions is maybe the starting point?
Do we need to wait for a corrupt authority figure to change — or some *superior being* to over rule that which can harm us, or protect us from the big bad wolves?
Frodo and Harry Potter more or less rewrote the script for human achievement– . You don’t even have to be old enough to drink at a bar to *save the world*! Lord of the rings and Harry Potter are myths containing metaphors for the debunk all preconceived ideas of the basic qualities of a hero, with the additional impact of showing how the environment responded to the life force of passionate youth standing up to protect *everyone* else. Positive energies and assistance sprung up at crucial moments– and there was not even a hint of *Divine intervention* — . Deprogramming a species mired in superstition and religion is no easy task… to be sure.
There is power in ONE– and it is the only true power on the planet– which, I believe we all have to be awakened to– or reminded of? This was the purpose for story telling in the first place. Wasn’t it?
Katie I absolutely agree with everything you said it’s about power and money end off. The staff are just scapegoats for when things go wrong and are easily replaced.
The ‘being judged’ comment was not meant in any religious way; I merely meant that if we do ‘today'(and any other day) things that we are happy for all to see and happy for them to apply to their perception of us then there is a chance that, eventually, we will make a difference. In other words, let’s concentrate on what we stand for and persevere!
I’m doubtful that shining one’s light inside of a dark *system/institution* does anything but secure employment for the *light snuffers*, special forces who are tuned into detecting kinks in the *system*. And, though I have not made a habit of expanding my own personal experiences trying to be *the change* on the inside, to a universal theory on the topic, I have heard others claim that they :1) Just made the worst look *better* and, 2) Found they had to compromise deep rooted humanistic values in order to stay employed — stay under the radar.
In my final analysis, I conclude that it is more likely that one will transgress– millimeter by millimeter, or become ill under the pressure of moral duress, than make * a difference* that justifies the agonizing ordeal itself.
Now, if we located our own *salt supply* and marched en masse toward it– workers and patients hand in hand– A Ghandi inspired act of civil disobedience, on a global scale would send the message that knowledge and skill cannot be monopolized by any ruling class. We cannot be oppressed and exploited unless we choose to remain ignorant, or to serve the oppressors.— At this point in human history, there is no excuse for ignorance within the health care profession.
One cannot speak clearly about the harmful practices one witnesses anywhere in the health care system, without being ousted, fired and punished in some way- same story for a small minority of shining lights on a dark adolescent psychiatric locked ward.
I think that either organizing large scale protests within the system, or leaving and working on providing and helping to create alternatives and real support for the victims of this system , are the only two options that will evoke change– and put pressure where it belongs– on the business tycoons who currently have no qualm about exploiting the suffering of *the people* for their own personal financial profits. So long as this system has minions and a market— it will grow.
Great conversation. I tried to reply to Ove yesterday but was struggling for words. 2015 has been a really tough year for many of us, and this forum has been what I like to call a “pocket of grace,” or the small corner that Mary speaks of.
There is a quote I think of when contemplating how small we feel in the face of what we’re up against. I searched for it yesterday but couldn’t find it. I think it was Viclav Havel who said something like, “it is not a matter of whether we will win but of what we become.”
I’m grateful for everyone who struggles in solidarity here and I hope 2016 will be a better year.
I doubt Little Red Riding Hood would have any option here in the UK, but to follow anything but the Path of the Guidelines: if she set out on her own, applying knowledge and judgement, she would be tripped up pretty damn quick by the spectre of NICE, Public Health England – and all the other shadowy bodies that police health care in the name of Risk Management (aka covering your ass).
Even if she had a companion walking by her side, willing to support her in striking out on her own – once Little Red’s head was on the block – likely they would deny any knowledge of, or involvement with her actions – due to sudden onset amnesia.
It’s bad enough battling through the Forest of Guidelines as a patient. If your blood sugar pops over the ‘diabetes’ threshold as determined by a committee, several (most) of whose members have connections to pharmaceutical industry, – and you trot off, innocently, to see the diabetic nurse – her Guidelines are actually Laws: she must ensure that you obey the Diabetic Act 2015 by prescribing a statin, ordering an eye screening test, poking your feet, telling you to eat low fat axle grease, not butter, test your blood pressure – about 11 different boxes to tick. What no one knows (except the GP, the nurse and the Practice Accountant) is that due to the Payment by Results system, which makes up a substantial proportion of GP salaries – unless the Nurse ticks ALL the boxes, the surgery gets zilch. Whereas, if she succeeds in forcing you down to the end of the Diabetic Pathway – there is a nice little bonus of maybe £500 waiting to be earned.
What the hell has that got to do with treating people as individuals, using clinical judgement to choose which tests or procedures might be appropriate for that particular patient? Answer – nothing. Patients are income fodder (follow the money). It’s just less obvious here in the UK.
On a less jaundiced (post Christmas) note – I hope that everyone has a better 2016 – and best wishes to you all: Ang, Annie, Ove, (I hope you didn’t get caught clearing the pharmacy shelves?) Katie, Mary, Johanna – and everyone, including those who read without commenting. Strength in numbers.
Laurie, you’ve managed to put into one sentence what took me a paragraph to say – ‘it’s not a matter of whether we win but of what we become’! Toppling the system may well be beyond us but showing that we are more than ‘obedient minions’ is possible. Payment by Results is as wrong as wrong can be – in healthcare, police work and everywhere else that it is found. Let’s not forget though that ‘payment by results’ was also present in education – you may argue that it’s still there even to this day – but, by perseverance, changes have been made, slowly but surely, so that standards take into consideration the baseline assessment of pupils on admission as well as the point reached on transfer to the next educational level. By this, it has become possible to include pupils with additional needs into mainstream schools – an impossibility not so long ago.
There I go again – a whole paragraph to say ‘Don’t give up – the hardest nut will crack if you have the right beak with which to crack it’!
I thought Chris Hedges was quoting Havel when he said that, but apparently it’s Hedges’ quote:
“…we must grasp that rebellion is not carried out finally for what it achieves, but for whom it allows us to become. Rebellion sustains in an age of darkness hope and the capacity for love. Rebellion must become our vocation.”
Then he goes on to quote Havel:
“You do not become a ‘dissident’ just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career,” Vaclav Havel said when he battled the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. “You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society. … The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power. He has no desire for office and does not gather votes. He does not attempt to charm the public. He offers nothing and promises nothing. He can offer, if anything, only his own skin—and he offers it solely because he has no other way of affirming the truth he stands for. His actions simply articulate his dignity as a citizen, regardless of the cost.”
Havel says it is truth that cracks the nut. Every time someone stands up to the lie (perhaps with a Rxisk report in hand) it chips away at the foundations of power.
Did anyone see a report yesterday about a tiger and a goat?
In a Russian animal park, the tiger was fed a living goat so that its hunting instinct would be satisfied to some degree as well as its hunger.
A month ago, the tiger did not kill the given goat, rather it became friendly towards it. The keepers expected that they would find the goat, partly consumed by the following morning…..or the next day ……or the end of the week, – but it didn’t happen. They still share the pen, share the sleeping quarters and share what life there is for animals behind bars.
This set me thinking – in a normal situation, the abnormal had happened. The ‘change’
had happened from the top. The goat was its usual scampering self but was showing no signs of fear which,one feels, would be the ‘usual reaction’ on being in close proximity to a known predator. The tiger showed no outward sign, of stealth etc., which normally accompany the appearance of ‘lunch on 4 legs’.
Does this mean, then, that a tiger and a goat can live amicably given certain circumstances? Providing the tiger is adequately fed, the goat is safe? That, as long as the natural need for re-fuelling is sustained, the next level – the natural instinct to hunt – is removed? I suppose that is the truth. Animals hunt due to hunger not greed.
Where on earth have we, humans, gone wrong then? Through all the responses here runs the theme of ‘money’. There is a certain level of ‘money’ that each of us needs in order to be self-sustainable – beyond that, doesn’t it become greed? ‘Greed’, by its very definition, only happens when you already had enough to sustain you in the first place.
The goat seemed to be living without fear of its possible demise – why? because of the attitude of the tiger.
Therefore, we are right in expecting a sense of fairness from all levels of business – medical or otherwise. How can we get this? – the change must come from the top just as the tiger changed, not the goat.
What then about us – the ‘goats’ – do we need to do something differently? The goat showed ‘trust’ in its new situation but only because of the change in the tiger. Maybe if the ‘tiger’ of the medicine world changed its attitude towards us ‘goats’, we, in turn, could show trust in their changed behaviour?
A small change could make such a big difference to the whole situation – but it has to be remembered that we ‘goats’ would still need to be vigilant.
Little Red Stethoscope is not going down without a fight it seems …
“As we are pushed to treat more and more patients, faster and faster, fatigue and psychological distress will dull our competence: your lives will be less safe in our hands. And our own? Take it from someone who’s been there. Watch the suicide rate climb.”
http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/views-from-the-nhs-frontline/2016/jan/05/doctor-suicide-hospital-nhs
That’s from an anonymous NHS junior doctor, trying to explain why she and her colleagues are going on strike for three days next week. While these doctors have plenty of reason to strike just from legitimate self-interest, lots of them are utterly disgusted by being forced to treat patients like widgets on an assembly line. In fact, that may be the greatest stress they face on the job.
Want to chat up a few doctors when they’re at their most vulnerable and open-minded? If you’re in England, you might consider heading down to the picket line. Smug or complacent attitudes may be at their lowest point ever. Bring ‘em a nice cup of tea or whatever, the conversation could be interesting! I wish I could be there.
I’m not sure whether I fancy chatting up any kind of doctor – but yes, seriously, I’ll be down at our local hospital on Tuesday..along with a fair few other people deeply concerned about the collapse of our NHS at the hands of politicians and vested interests in the creeping hand-over of our health service to private/corporate concerns.
However – just to chuck a bit of cold water on the matter – I find it quite ironic that it took the threat of lost wages to actually push the medics into taking action. The profession has tolerated the steady march towards medicine by numbers, the consequent loss of that sacred doctor/patient relationship based on trust and knowledge – and treating people as unique individuals. Medics en masse are an incredibly powerful body – and could, methinks, have acted sooner to halt the ‘widget’ line, instead of grumbling and moaning about how overworked they are. Don’t like prescribing-by-guidelines? Then don’t do it. Can’t stand spending half your working day dealing with daft public health initiatives – just refuse to do it. I know that’s simplistic – but it is possible for disaffected doctors to challenge the system, as we’re now witnessing. But maybe, on a more positive note – if they win this battle, then other victories may follow.
L L R i Periscope
Only a select few…can…(any volunteers for finishing the sentence…:)
https://twitter.com/GSKUS
GSK US @GSKUS 13h13 hours ago
#OnlyASelectFewCan say they have a long-standing commitment to data transparency: http://ow.ly/WHP8Q #alltrials
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYDIheqWkAEMz_e.png:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CX4Dx4CWEAAi31v.jpg
GSK @GSK Jan 4
Here’s how we’re changing the way we work w/ healthcare professionals to meet patient needs: http://gsk.to/1O5VFln
https://mhracorrupt.st/
“those who possess the data control the story.”
http://www.macleans.ca/society/how-open-data-can-improve-medicine/
It’s always just around the corner, isn’t it doctors?
Today’s Lancet Psychiatry, Vol 3, No 1, ‘Neuroimaging in 2015: a turning point?’
Thomas Szasz would have given a wry smile indeed at this article, recalling what he wrote all those years ago about psychiatry’s ‘unredeemed promissory note’; i.e. the great diagnostic revelation which always lies ‘just around the corner’.
This ad nauseum repetition sounds just as hollow as ‘more research is needed’, or ‘the medication was found in almost all cases to be highly effective and easily tolerated’.
Apart from the money, is it all just a big game to see if we can get our names into print?
You’ll wait forever for the tiger to change his attitude – time for the goats to grow horns and teeth…
Walter
Great post. I must admit I didnt really get the first part fully when I read it last week but reading this it all clicked.
I feel sorry for patients and I feel sorry for Doctors ( most of them anyway ). I think we are all caught up in a system thats not working well for any of us.
“I know of a psychiatrist who is very good at speaking to the dangers of psychiatric medications. He’s a leader in the research and well written on the subject. However, he admits to there sometimes being a case for the use of ECT. So, while he sees the potential harm of drugs on the brain, he’s just as unwilling to admit to the harm of electricity on the brain.
Pat Risser (MIA Author) on January 6, 2016 at 9:45 am said:
I believe we should not affiliate with him at all, even as a potential ally.”
MIA is Financially broke….apparently
Having read millions of words and millions of comments, I am not particularly surprised.
It was a worthwhile venture, it was a good staging post, it was a good sounding board; to be honest, there was Nothing Like It in America.
Isn’t it nice to snuggle up with a bit of Nardo and Healy with financial stuff intact and RxISK going from strength to strength without anyone putting the mockers on it.
Tactical Error 5.
Write your own books, write your own articles…stand on your own two feet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Xrlf3taEo
But then, are we really so easily filed into columns, categories– based on where we were born?
https://youtu.be/uEx5G-GOS1k
Well, maybe that it just another *tactical error* committed by the tyrants who hoard material treasures and harbor jealousy and hatred for *the people*???
The illusion of fear evoking differences between us is the basis for the success of every scheme put forth by life sucking demons—
Why do we buy into this delusion??
Hi Katie,
If you’re advocating putting aside differences for the sake of unity, I agree.
Being blindsided by doctors and risky treatments is kind of like falling into a dark well. For me, MIA has been a lot like a broadcast radio at the top of the well, letting me know important information about how I got there. That’s been useful and there’s no way I’m going to knock it.
But Rxisk has been more like a two-way radio. They actively seek to hear from those of us stuck in the well. And when you’re down in it, this kind of contact helps to restore dignity. To me it seems the “talking heads” tend to forget how alienating it is and how desperate one feels when no one is really listening, (and without going into detail I will just say that I’ve had my fingers stepped on, so to speak, more than a few times when I’ve tried to contact/contribute content to MIA).
So when I see Dr. Healy being reviled in MIA comments instead of his ideas being discussed, it saddens me. It’s frustrating that these people don’t see all that he and RxISK bring to the table (not the least of which is a broader focus that includes all of medicine as opposed to just psychiatry), and it’s this kind of myopic stubbornness that prevents unity and ensures we get nowhere.
I think it would make a lot more sense for the anti-Healy folks to focus on the damage potential for ALL treatments, ECT being just one of them, and to uphold the individual’s right to decline a treatment, as well as their right to receive it, based upon their full informed consent.
A few words from founder of the madinamerica.com ” webzine”, Robert Whitaker- posted as the closing comment on Dr.Healy’s *cross-posted*,
“Buffy–” blog.
“First, I should note that I know David Healy well. As a journalist, I feel like I owe him a debt of gratitude. When my book Mad in America was published, and I was mostly getting roundly criticized by psychiatrists (or really just personally trashed in some reviews), David Healy–and I didn’t know him at that time–wrote a very favorable review. That took courage for him to break ranks with this professional tribe. It was also in that book that I wrote about electroshock, as part of psychiatry’s history, and did so by describing it as one of several “brain damaging” therapies embraced in the 1930s and 1940s. So he did not respond to my writing there, critically of electroshock, with criticism of me, or a dismissal of the larger history told in Mad in America. He remained open to the larger history I had told.
I then interviewed him when I was writing Anatomy of an Epidemic, precisely because of his views about tapering people from psychiatric drugs. He also provided what I think was the best possible blurb for Anatomy of an Epidemic, when he wrote: “If psychiatry wants to retain its credibility with the public, it will now have to engage the scientific argument at the core of this cogently and elegantly written book. ” That took guts to write, to publicly challenge his own profession in that way.
Next, I have a small financial interest in RXRISK, meaning I invested a small amount of money to help it get started, and agreed to serve in an advisory role. I think RX RISK is an invaluable resource for researching adverse effects of psychiatric drugs, and we feature it prominently on our drug info page.”
MIA appeared in tandem with Robert Whitaker’s other new venture: public speaking/, which was really more like, public education in response to the success of “Anatomy of an Epidemic”. — Additionally he began giving lectures by invitation from in the U.S. and abroad– earning his stripes, so to speak, to be publicly *criticized* by prominent psychiatrists in America, many of whom have awarded David Healy the same distinction.
Bob’s tenacious commitment to open dialogue and civil debates on a wide range of topics that are unique to American culture and our plight with regard to *psychiatry*, has provided this unique forum where I have witnessed the development of a counter narrative to the line of horse hockey Americans were sold by psychiatrists. Impressive , and timely imo, as we are confronting some rather frightening *new* assaults to our human rights , proposed by our very own*elected* legislators .
Having just attained *non profit* status, MIA, will remain open and available for open dialogue– on the myriad posts= articles, blogs, personal stories that capture what it means to be *Mad* in America.
There is nothing quite like it anywhere on the net. Not surprising it is both widely read and frequently critiqued– even harshly criticized. But I still believe that “to be loved is fortunate, but to be hated is achieving distinction.”–
So, wrapping up— let me just offer a counter perspective–
One critic’s repeated mantra, “tactical error”, is another’s food for thought.
It is noteworthy that a very productive collaboration and genuine human relationship/friendship exists between *your* hero, and *ours* —. At times it feels as though the long awaited Fellowship has begun to gather strength.
Just the sort of thing Little Red Stethoscope — our newly qualified doctor, would order. In my version of the story 🙂
Annie, I wouldn’t write off Mad in America just yet. If they’re low on funds, it’s partly because they’ve been ambitious in terms of hiring actual staff, etc. Also because (just like RxISK) they have just started to call on their readers & fans for financial support. It took MiA awhile to realize they would have to function more as a “social movement” than an “enterprise,” and to re-organize as a nonprofit. I’m willing to make a modest pledge (5 bucks a month?) to make sure they keep going.
Sure, the online discussion at MiA has often been doctrinaire and shrill. I’ve lost the patience to participate for months at a time. That’s a common Internet disease; the shrill and doctrinaire often talk the most. And people who have been walked on in almost every other arena sometimes see their online forums as simply a place to vent and get validated by fellow sufferers. They tend to pounce on anyone who questions anything.
Still, I think the dialog has been worth it. Check out the free Continuing Ed video library, including David’s class as well as Martin Harrow’s, Lex Wunderlink’s, Sandy Steingard’s etc: http://madinamericacontinuinged.org/courses/
Mad in America played a role in bringing these people together with activists and pissed-off patients who can take their ideas & run with them. There will definitely continue to be Bozo’s on this bus, but I feel like RxISK should still come along for the ride!
BTW just figured out that song I kept hearing in my head while reading this. It’s not Little Red Stethoscope. It’s Little Red Corvette, by the artist once-again known as Prince:
“Guess I shoulda known by the way you parked your car sideways that it wouldn’t last …”
A great old pop song in which Prince hooks up with a glamorous, sexually adventurous woman, only to find himself sorta freaked out to be treated as a disposable commodity.
Little Red Corvette — Baby, you’re much too fast.
Little Red Corvette — You need a love that’s gonna last.
Prince is disturbed by this soulless approach — it just can’t be right, especially when it’s the guy who turns out to be just a commodity! (This being pop music, however, he’s gotta add that he IS a pretty hot commodity, and a first-rate choice for a one-night stand if that’s what you want … Move over baby, gimme the keys.)
12 Billion spent overseas and yet they do this makes you wonder what the real agenda is.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3391873/Thousands-student-nurses-midwives-march-London-protest-plans-scrap-training-bursaries.html
What happened to the elderly woman/patient Little Red Stethoscope set off to bring comfort, aide and *medicine* to?
>>So the medical director took the path of clinical experience and arrived first at the bedside. Mrs Clinton was dead. She had been taking warfarin and a device the hospital had been supplied for free as part of a Xarelto clinical trial had malfunctioned and she had had a stroke.<<
Hmm– patient's death correlates with an adverse function of a device on clinical trial? WHY would the medical director want to hide this information?
The malfunction of the device is *data*, crucial info for the clinical trial this patient was participating in. The malfunction of the device and the cause of death of the patient, STROKE–just happens to be the adverse event the device is supposed to eliminate; the malfunction of the device and the fatal evidence of the malfunction should be recorded as PATIENT REPORT data.
Additionally, Patient response to treatment IS the foundation of *clinical experience*.
So– what kind of *clinical experience* paves the path the medical director took?
Nefarious schemes that protect the financial ties between the highest ranked doctors and the medical treatment *manufacturing*corporations (includes Pharma)– made wealthy in large part via collaboration with the highest ranked, tenured academic physicians –the NEW path of clinical experience is laid bare before our eyes—
Protecting the gravy train is NOW the *path of clinical experience*– The seasoned, tenured physicians- first sought by Corporations like Xarelto, were somehow entranced, bewitched or out right bought—. Not only is Little Red Stethoscope a worthless commodity in the new Health Care Regime, she is, unfortunately a recognized hinderance to it's proliferation.
It is no wonder health care professionals- doctors, nurses and the full compliment of specialized health care providers have become more *fodder* to exploit for profit. Will there now be a formidable challenge to this *demon*?
Only if the public engages to support them, and the divisive tactics that threaten unity building between countries with diverse cultures and forms of government, are abated.
WE have a common denominator– and the agenda is no longer a mystery.
Sacre bleu et zut alors!
Little Med Horroscope…….
There will be a thorough investigation of what went wrong.
We should watch this with Express Relief…rip Brain dead
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/16/world/europe/french-drug-trial-hospitalization.html?_r=0
Don’t worry….#alltrials are on the case….just like with GSKStudy329…they are on the case……
http://www.alltrials.net/news/comment-from-ben-goldacre-on-the-phase-1-clinical-trial-disaster-in-france/
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2806%2969885-1/fulltext
Maverick Master of Medical Evidence……
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2806%2969879-6/abstract
This Clinical Trial was consenting Adults, not Children who innocently swallowed Paroxetine with varying results which we did not have the privilege of knowing about.
What a Mon Dieu Sacrifice for the Obtainment of Some Other Drug for Something Unspecific.
Carl Elliot made a comment, on NYT, no doubt, thinking about Dan Markingson, does this news travel to Georgia?
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/molecules-to-medicine/umn-how-many-deaths-have-occurred-during-your-clinical-trials/
It’s gut wrenching to listen to this story on the news today isn’t it? Even more gut wrenching is the false look of horror and declaration that there will be a ‘full investigation’ as to what went wrong (again). Do they really think that we all have such short memories that we are likely to have forgotten other ‘trial disasters’? Will we ever know what ‘went wrong’ or will the details just be thrown into the bottomless pit of hidden documents in the hope that no-one will mention it again? Guess we all know the answer to that one! Let’s just hope that these men – and their families – were given the full facts and fully understood the risks that they were taking before embarking on their participation in these trials.There again, how likely is that? – at least it would be a relief if it were true.
Dead.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12104326/Man-dies-after-being-left-brain-dead-in-French-drug-trial-hospital-says.html