VYAZMA, I’m not saying this can’t be true, but before you paint an entire spectrum of research professionals with the same brush you really need to show some solid evidence and not just surveys and innuendo. I have seen stories recently about individuals in non-medical fields who have committed research fraud. There are quite literally tens of thousands of dedicated individuals toiling away in labs around the world trying to find ways to cure disease and alleviate suffering. While there will always be individuals who are tempted to cheat, that is just as true whether the temptation is to profit from a new drug, or move up the academic ladder by getting more papers published, or to win a noble prize. There is nothing unique about medical research that would make researchers in this field any more ‘dishonest’. If you’re going to bad mouth a group of people who are sacrificing ( many of these people make a lot less money than your mailman) working hard to make our lives better, you should be armed with more than a survey and vague recollections about a 1966 article.

Macgyver, I’m guilty of painting with a broad brush here. I’m pointing out the unethical behavior of doctors, pharmaceutical companies, salespeople, hospitals, clinicians, pshychiatrists, counselers, and laboratory workers. Sorry, I’m speaking of the vast amount of diagnosis that goes on inthe interest of large pharmaceutical companies. You know, the Number 1, or 2 traded commodity, and the in the top 3 of the gross worth commodities.

Here’s your vague recollection: Life Magazine June 24 1966 issue. Sitting right next to me on my desk.
Front Cover A silhouette of a person taking pills, behind a foreground of a rainbow of pills and capsules floating in the air. A Pill Mosaic if you will. The Title:“Doctors and the Rx Scandal; How some M.D.s short cut ethics and profit from their own prescriptions.”

And you know what? For the vast amount of these diagnosis, who cares.You got some hypochondriac coming in all the time, fix him up. Restless leg syndrome- dose ‘em up!!
I don’t like the idea of children and young adults being diagnosed by counselers and doctors, and administrators, as being hyper or unmaneageable and being forced or coerced into being bombed out in a stupor. Walking around on Psych-Meds, it’s just like Soma from 1984. It’s a friggin’ joke!!

As with all things the pendulum can sometimes swing too far. ADD is not a manufactured diagnosis. It is a recognizable syndrome. While there may be some degree of over diagnosis, to eliminate this as a recognized disorder and stop treating these individuals would be to push the pendulum far off the other end. Children do perform better when they are properly diagnosed and treated for this condition. The problem is that some parents who are frustrated and at their wits end and some doctors who are equally frustrated and want to help sometimes push themselves into giving a child a diagnosis that doesn’t fit. Add to that the politics of free services for these children and extra time they get on exams ( the valedictorian of my daughters class has ADD and was allowed 3hrs to take an exam when everyone else got 1.5 hrs.), and there is a strong push by parents to get their kids ‘classified’ so they can benefit from these things.

We shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bath water though. just because some kids are misdiagnosed doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist. It does. It was just unrecognized in the past.

Restless leg syndrome and fibromyalgia are very nebulous areas. Many doctors are skeptical of these diagnosis and reluctant to prescribe for them unless a patient is really having difficulty. If however a patient is very uncomfortable and there is a medication that might help I see no logical reason why a physician shouldn’t offer them a chance to get relief from their symptoms.

Quoting a 1966 article on “how doctors profit from their own prescription” is really not relevant to 2009. I don’t know what went on back then but there is no feasible mechanism by which a doctor in 2009 can profit by writing prescriptions in any legal fashion that I’m aware of.

Mac, the article was about Doctors owning rights, and stock to various pharmaceutical companies, who bought bulk product from other companies. The drugs were then repackaged under new brand names, and sometimes House Medicines under the doctors own “Shingle”. The Doctor could then prescribe these medicines, and dispense them right from his own office.

Go ahead, beat me up now. I know these practices are illegal now. But that was 1966. It speaks of relative issues of today. In my opinion. Keep on doing good work Mac! You know the reasons I get skeptical. Don’t take it personally.
I know you rabidly defend your industry, your profession, and your art.