A Medical Madoff: Anesthesiologist Faked Data in 21 Studies

A Medical Madoff: Anesthesiologist Faked Data in 21 Studies

*si no conose cun Madoff, dyalo lang...just read the article...it might scare you...please pass!

Now this is scary!

"Over the past 12 years, anesthesiologist Scott Reuben revolutionized the way physicians provide pain relief to patients undergoing orthopedic surgery for everything from torn ligaments to worn-out hips. Now, the profession is in shambles after an investigation revealed that at least 21 of Reuben's papers were pure fiction, and that the pain drugs he touted in them may have slowed postoperative healing.

"We are talking about millions of patients worldwide, where postoperative pain management has been affected by the research findings of Dr. Reuben," says Steven Shafer, editor in chief of the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia, which published 10 of Reuben's fraudulent papers.

Paul White, another editor at the journal, estimates that Reuben's studies led to the sale of billions of dollars worth of the potentially dangerous drugs known as COX2 inhibitors, Pfizer's Celebrex (celecoxib) and Merck's Vioxx (rofecoxib), for applications whose therapeutic benefits are now in question. Reuben was a member of Pfizer's speaker's bureau and received five independent research grants from the company. The editors do not believe patients were significantly harmed by the short-term use of these COX2 inhibitors for pain management but they say it's possible the therapy may have prolonged recovery periods."


http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-medical-madoff-anesthestesiologist-faked-data


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Money can't buy love but it can improve your bargaining position
- Thomas Marlowe

There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
-Lord Amiah

Foreign-Educated Nurses, vital to US Health Workforce

The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) just released a new policy brief regarding Foreign-Educated Nurses. The study looks into the vital role of foreign educated nurses in United State healthcare.

Among other findings, the NFAP concludes:

- The leading country where foreign nurses employed in the U.S. received their initial education is the Philippines, followed by India,  Canada and South Korea.

- Many foreign-educated nurses attend nursing school intending to work abroad and help their families. Given the important role of remittances, the Philippines and India encourage their nationals to work abroad.

- Fears that foreign nurses would overwhelm the U.S. labor market and dissuade hospitals from active recruitment of U.S. nurses are unfounded. Foreign nurses represent only 3.7 percent of the U.S. registered nurse workforce, well below New Zealand (23 percent), the United Kingdom (8 percent), Ireland (8 percent) and Canada (6 percent).

See the complete brief here.


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There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
-Lord Amiah

I just had to blog

September 15, 2007

Today was a good day! It started out with an outreach program John Lim and I volunteered. It was supposed to help students in the Ateneo community draw knowledge and perspective from the different sectors and fora of our society. Angie, unfortunately stood us up in the name of academics.

We were assigned to the "A day with the Congresswoman". It was a healthy dose of politics. We had some clue on what are the main agendas of the lady legislator. Her priorities as well as her plans for her constituents. Issues were also tackled a little. It was a big tiresome which was compounded by the lack of organization on our part. We were not prepared. And it caused such tremendous irate on my part. I may not be obsessive on form and show but I certainly maintain a certain level of organization and control. To give you a glimpse of my predicament earlier, no introduction for the congresswoman was made. To say the least no background investigation on the team's part was done. Que Horror! Makahuya lang!

Its a good thing, Mike Saavedra, Chief of Staff, had some templates ready! Must have been Godsent or something. In any case, that was a lucky strike!

The short program ended with a good cheer and without and commotion or problems. Thank God!

As the afternoon was approaching, Henry called. He "offered" (term is used loosely) me a chance to debate. Well, after a long while, that offer did not sound too bad at all! I missed debating. Checked my previous post here.

In any case, it was a total blunder for me! Eww! I can't recall any moment (to the best of my knowledge) that I had an undertime. It was a mock debate for crying out loud. I frackin' screwed it up! My goodness! Debate skills (ahem!) are out of the window. It was then I was praying for a chance of redemption. Luckily, there was another round. God must be answering my prayers today, I thought.

The second round was a good round. It was a better round compared to the first one. I was not undertimed but I was overtimed. I gave myself some credit. It came to my attention that my partner was a new debater, fresh from the seminar yesterday. I had so many things to say and so little time to juggle as a tutor and a debater. Oh well, second place for that round was not that bad.

Evening came. Badminton session with the barkada. By this time, I was totally fatigued. Mental fatigue is by far worse than the physical one. I was like a mindless zombie (zombies are mindless, Ellery. You idiot!). I kept on missing shots. I must have missed more than 5 times. Crappy performance. So demoralizing.

The 2 and half hour session made me hungry. I had no further budget. I was flat broke. Emmy must have been sensing that (Bless her big heart!) and offered to pay for our snacks. Thanks Mimie, it was much appreciated! I love you very much!


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There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
-Lord Amiah