Blood clots that develop in the large veins of the calf can kill if they break off and travel up to the heart. That’s what is called a pulmonary embolism, the killer of some 100,000 Americans every year. Now there’s evidence that statin drugs for lowering cholesterol, and thereby preventing clogging of the arteries in….
Continue ReadingArchives for March 2009
What’s Your “Real Age”? Filling Out an On-Line Questionnaire Will Tell Drug Companies All About You
Never underestimate the ingenuity of the pharmaceutical industry in promoting its products to the American public. The latest example: The “Real Age” questionnaire that millions of people have filled out on the Internet, to tell them if their “real age,” based on lifestyle and family history, is younger or older than their chronological age. It….
Continue ReadingMore Harm than Help from Screening Test for Prostate Cancer
The PSA screening test for prostate cancer causes far more men to undergo unnecessary and harmful treatment than it saves lives, according to two large new studies. As reported by Gina Kolata in the New York Times, one study that followed 77,000 American men for a decade found zero benefit in lowered death rates, while….
Continue ReadingPatients Win, Drug Industry Loses, in Safety Case before Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a strong push by the pharmaceutical industry to win immunity from lawsuits filed by injured plaintiffs. In a 6-3 decision in the case of Wyeth v. Levine, the Supreme Court ruled that the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a drug’s label does not mean that the manufacturer has….
Continue ReadingEven A Glass of Alcohol A Day Can Increase Women’s Risk for Cancers
A study published in February 2009 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports that low levels of alcohol consumption may be responsible for about 5% of cancers in American women (or 30,000 cases a year), Thomas Maugh writes in a Los Angeles Times story. This newfound risk of low or moderate consumption of….
Continue ReadingQuestions Patients Must Ask Before an MRI or CT Scan
It’s always intimidating to undergo an MRI scan or CT scan. The machines are loud and enormous and seem to swallow your body. For all the trouble and expense, patients deserve the very latest scanning equipment and should have their images read by only the most highly qualified doctors. Alas, there is a quiet scandal….
Continue Reading