TOP TEN HEALTH SCANDALS OF 2009
By
Byron J. Richards, CCN
December 29, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
2009 is another bumper crop year for health scandals, an unfortunate trend that shows no signs of improvement. To the contrary, consumers should do everything in their power to stay healthy as the Big Pharma-sponsored medical profession continues to induce millions of serious injuries and hundreds of thousands of deaths per year.
#10 – The Failure Empire: Bob Greene Rakes It In, Oprah Fails
The scene is comic: Bob Greene sitting next to Oprah on her TV show, kicking off the New Year, as Oprah tries to explain to her viewing audience why she gained forty pounds – again. Not once did she turn to Greene and say, “Bob, I guess your program is just a bit too hard to follow, something must be wrong with it.”
As 2009 comes to a close Oprah’s new plan didn’t seem to work for her – again.
#9 – Surprisingly High Cancer Risk from CT Scans
Isn’t it nice to know that the medical profession caused 29,000 future cases of cancer in 2007 from the CT scans it performed on patients (a great tool for future business). Think twice before falling for a heart scan ad you hear on the radio; the risk for a woman getting cancer from it is 1 in 270. These are some of the remarkable numbers coming from two new studies published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
#8 – Tamoxifen Shockingly Found to Cause Aggressive Breast Cancer
Long-term Tamoxifen use, as widely promoted by oncologists for women following breast cancer, turns out to increase the risk of highly aggressive hormone receptor-negative breast cancer by 440%. This means that while Tamoxifen reduces the risk for less invasive estrogen positive cancer by 60%, it is at the same time putting many women in extreme peril.
#7 – Neurontin and Lyrica are a Death Sentence for New Brain Synapses
Neurontin and its newer more potent version, Lyrica, are widely used for off-label indications that are an outright flagrant danger to the public. These blockbuster drugs were approved for use even though the FDA had no idea what they actually did in the brain. A shocking new study shows that they block the ability of new brain synapses from forming, drastically reducing the potential for rejuvenating brain plasticity – meaning that these drugs will cause brain decline faster than any substance known to mankind.
#6 – Scientists Document How Coumadin Increases Disease Risk
While doctors hand out Coumadin like candy, apparently because they have no idea how to get someone’s sticky blood to flow normally, patient’s livers were apparently not briefed on the strategy – an oversight that is likely to injure and speed the onset of age-associated disease. A new article in the prestigious American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals just how vital vitamin K function is to your health.
#5 – Antidepressants Linked to a 67% Increased Risk of Death
Researchers followed 136,000 postmenopausal women taking part in the Women’s Health Initiative and found that those who started taking antidepressants during the study had a 67% increased risk of death from any cause during the 6 year follow-up period of the study. They also had double the risk for a hemorrhagic stroke or a fatal stroke.
#4 – Researchers Document the Dangers of Statins
A new scientific review of the dangers of statin medications is the first official paper to shed light on what I have been saying for years. It reviews 900 studies on the adverse effects of statins. It shows beyond any doubt that statins are potent disrupters of normal energy production by cells – meaning that the drugs are anti-life.
The statin fraud is always a candidate for top scandal of the year, and is certainly the scandal of the decade.
#3 – 224,000 Americans Died From Poor Hospital Care from 2006 – 2008
Comparing the best hospitals in the country to the national average finds that there is a 52% lower risk of dying at the top-rated hospitals. When comparing the best to the worst that figure jumps to a 72% lower risk of dying in a top hospital. This discrepancy in care quality has been documented for the past decade and is not improving. We have 74,000 needless deaths a year due to inept care. Maybe health care reform should start in the hospitals.
#2 – How the FDA, Big Pharma, and Doctors Cause Injury for Profit
In some ways the health care in America is the finest in the world. In other ways it is a severe risk to health, even deadly. The dark side of this issue involves medication profits at the expense of human health. This questionable health care approach costs at least 200 billion dollars a year and involves the costs of the drugs themselves, the injuries they cause, and the appropriate law suits that follow. The perpetrators of this fraud are the pharmaceutical companies acting in tandem with the FDA, doctors paid under the table by Big Pharma, and gullible doctors willing to write off-label prescriptions based on the hype they hear from doctors on the take and Big Pharma sales reps.
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#1 – Big Pharma Strikes Gold in the Name of Health Care Reform
Most of the above list of health scandals has to do with Big Pharma and doctors injuring and killing innocent Americans under the pretense of health care – and the list could easily be five times as long. Even last year health pundits warned President Obama that there were just too many medication scandals to attempt health care reform. Amazingly, but not surprisingly, the single most important topic regarding health care reform was absent from the national debate.
With its traditional Republican protection on the sidelines, Big Pharma should have rightfully been taken to the cleaners, along with a legion of doctors writing inappropriate prescriptions. It at least seemed certain that the long-standing Democrat objective of allowing drug re-importation to drive down ludicrous Big Pharma mark-ups would readily pass with Democrats firmly in control.
Instead, Big Pharma found it could buy the White House. The Obama administration teamed up with the very stench at the source of the problem for ever-expanding health care costs. Not only will Big Pharma be guaranteed many new customers at taxpayer expense, they were also able to lock in no generic competition to their incredibly expensive and even more dangerous bio-tech drugs. It is pretty obvious that money still buys anything in our nation’s capitol.
The following are four articles I wrote on the topic as the year moved along. No country could possibly afford the drug-dispensing priorities and agenda of Big Pharma. Many of the top executives of these companies belong in jail, not driving up the costs of American health care. It is little wonder that many Americans are fed up with almost all politicians on both sides of the aisle.
Is Obama Bailing Out Big Pharma’s Bursting Bubble?
Bubble economics has become a painful financial lesson for America and the rest of the world. Will we learn from our mistakes? Will we get smarter about recognizing bubbles before they burst, so that the air can be let out of them in a less painful manner? It appears that our new president, in his passion to provide health care for everyone, is about to pump hot air into a bubble that is ready to explode under the weight of its own fraud and lack of results.
Big Pharma & Friends Poised for Massive Profits from Health Care Reform
While Democrats shoot themselves in both feet trying to explain how their proposed health care reform will be able to contain costs over time, there is another much better organized group who is pushing very hard to get this legislation through and is poised for dramatic profits at the expense of the American taxpayer. That group is the lobbyists that represent Big Pharma, the American Medical Association, hospital groups, and insurance companies.
Big Pharma Teams with President Obama
Big Pharma has struck a deal with the White House – now Americans should really be concerned. Big Pharma will spend 150 million to 200 million during the August recess to run ads on TV to support the president’s struggling health care plan. That is chump change compared to the extra hundreds of billions Big Pharma plans to rake in over the next decade.
Talk About Pulling The Plug On Grandma
The debate on health care reform is heating up. Americans are starting to pay attention to what is going on. Big Pharma, in a panic, has bought protection from the Obama administration. The Obama administration, fearing for its political life, has struck an 11th hour deal with the slimiest industry in the free world – change we can count on?
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The Hope for a Healthy Tomorrow
In America’s darkest hour a new super hero is emerging, Larry Leptin. You can get familiar with Larry and his family by watching these two humorous animation cards, one for Halloween and one for Christmas. And then stay tuned in January for the first stunning Larry Leptin episode, as the Leptin family combats the forces of evil.
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