Thursday, December 10, 2009

Finally some Government Sanity IowaPolitics.com Reports-Grassley Works for Disclosure of Drug Company Payments to Medical Groups Regardin Teen Screen

Senator Grassley has asked 33 medical groups for information about the financial backing they get from the pharmaceutical, medical device and insurance industries.

“These organizations have a lot of influence over public policy, and people rely on their leadership. There’s a strong case for disclosure and the accountability that results,” Grassley said.

Grassley said his inquiry follows a review of industry support for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, where he questioned the organization’s national office and state chapters. The Alliance subsequently adopted a new policy of publicly releasing industry support over $5,000. “It’d be good for the system if other organizations would follow NAMI’s lead in this area,” Grassley said.

For several years, Grassley has conducted extensive oversight and sought disclosure of financial ties with industry from research physicians, medical schools, medical journals, continuing medical education, and the patient advocacy community. He has worked to expose cases where there was vast disparity between drug-company payments received and reported by leading medical researchers. In response to Grassley’s work, the National Institutes of Health is working on new disclosure guidelines for federal grant recipients.

Grassley is also working for congressional passage of reform legislation he has sponsored with Senator Herb Kohl. Their bipartisan Physician Payments Sunshine Act would require annual public reporting by drug, device and biologic manufacturers of payments made to physicians nationwide.

“I’m interested in transparency,” Grassley said. “Letting the sun shine in and making information public is basic to building people’s confidence in medical research, education and the practice of medicine,” Grassley said.

This week, t he senator’s letters of inquiry were sent to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Alzheimer’s Association, the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Surgeons, the American Dental Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association, the American Heart Association, the American Hospital Association Inc., the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, the American Society of Health–System Pharmacists, the American Society of Hypertension, Inc., the American Society of Nephrology, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the Heart Rhythm Society, Mental Health America, NARSAD, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the North American Spine Society, Screening for Mental Health Inc., the National Center for Mental Checkups at Columbia University (TeenScreen), The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the American Cancer Society.

See here for the text of Sen. Grassley’s letter: http://www.iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=179090

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Florida Psychiatrist Loses License for Having Sex With His Patient

The Florida State Prison's former psychiatrist Emanuel John Falcone loses his medical license after having sex with a mentally ill patient in New York State. The former Dr. Falcone had supporters at the hearing, but the board unanimously voted to revoke his license. His license was revoked earlier in New York for having sex with the patient, but was hired by Florida Prisons at a salary of $188k even though he admitted to his interviewer of the New York case. His supporters spoke on his behalf that he should be able to practice seeing male patients only in a prison environment, and that his crime was not attributed to his BiPolar disorder. Apparently, this psychiatrist felt he could commit the offense in one State and then pick up and restart his practice in another.

Falcone told the New York bureau of prisons he never considered his interactions with the woman to be treatment or therapy. But the panel rejected that argument in permanently revoking his license in September 2008 for professional misconduct, gross and repeated incompetence and negligence and failing to maintain medical records. The
The Panel wrote: “He was too selfishly motivated and lost sight of his oath,” the panel said. “We saw no remorse, no humility, no sign that he understood the great harm that he caused despite his attempt to present a speech that was supposed to convince us otherwise.” The bureau found his actions toward the patient “predatory” and said he knew her illness left her vulnerable. “He eventually exploited that vulnerability for his own purpose and satisfaction.”

Here is a link to the Youtube Video of the Florida hearing from FloridaPsychNews: http://tinyurl.com/licenserevoked

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Lack of Vitamin D Linked to Depression and Diseases of the Arteries

The “sunshine vitamin” has been discussed before as a solution for better health, but it appears that heart disease and depression are now both linked to a lack of vitamin D. People with heart disease who don't have enough vitamin D are more likely to be depressed than their counterparts with adequate levels of the vitamin according to the American Heart Association. It appears to be even more apparent in the winter months. Vitamin D is produced by the body with just fifteen minutes of daily sunshine. It can also be found in fish, milk, and vitamin supplements.

In the first study reported by Reuters new service, Dr. Heidi May, PhD and her colleagues measured blood levels of vitamin D in 8,680 people age 50 or older who had been diagnosed with heart disease, stroke, or another type of cardiovascular disease. Vitamin D levels above 30 nanograms per milliliter of blood (ng/mL) were considered normal, levels between 15 and 30 ng/mL were low, and those 15 ng/mL and below were deemed very low.
Among those with very low levels of vitamin D, 32 percent were depressed, as were 25 percent of the people with low levels, and 21 percent of those with normal levels. This trend was seen even among individuals with no history of depression with winter creating more pronounced results.

A second study by the same team of researchers found that people age 50 or older who lack vitamin D are at a higher risk for heart disease and stroke, and are more likely to die earlier than people the same age who get adequate amounts of the vitamin.
These studies add to the mounting evidence about the dangers of vitamin D deficiency and may also shed light on the connection between depression and cardiovascular disease.

We have indicated throughout that depression can be managed by natural cures and this helps validate it with scientific studies by the American Heart Association. Adequate exercise and sunshine alone can make dramatic changes to ones mood. The need for pharmaceutical drugs diminishes widely. These would be typical cures used in third world countries who survive more stressful lives of survival with natural cures and remedies. The western world idea of cures seems to always include a pill, which is more of a George Orwell 1984 solution. A pill remedy is not the green solution.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

One Found Guilty and One a Suspect for Murder and both under Psychiatric Care and on Psychotropic Medication

The Orlando Shooter Jason Rodriguez was on psychotropic medication, and Michele Kehoe found guilty of first degree murder for killing her son and has been on Paxil and other medications since 1996.
Jason Rodriguez was the gunman who killed one and injured five, police said, in a shooting this week in an Orlando Florida engineering office, where he was laid off two years ago. The shooting set off an intense manhunt Friday afternoon until the alleged gunman, Jason Rodriguez, 40, was arrested without incident at his mother’s Florida apartment building, police said.
Foxnews reported that Jason Rodriguez’s former mother-in-law told them that he was on medication that affected his mind. She said he acted paranoid, thinking people were out to get him. “He would imagine things sometimes,” his former mother-in-law said. “From what I understand they had him in a mental institution six months ago.”
In court testimony from The Gazette, Cedar Rapids Iowa, a psychiatrist Dr. William Logan testified last week that Michelle Kehoe suffered from major depression and post traumatic stress disorder, was obsessive compulsive and had suicidal tendencies. Kehoe was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and child endangerment causing serious injury, and was accused of slashing the throats of her sons Seth and Sean. Seth died from his injuries and Sean was injured but survived
Dr. Logan said in his opinion, Kehoe didn’t understand right and wrong when she killed son Seth, 2, and injured her other son Sean, 7, on Oct. 26, 2008. The jury felt otherwise. In 1996, Logan said. Kehoe had her first major experience with depression. She was prescribed Paxil for her symptoms. "She has been more or less under treatment since that episode," he said. Kehoe also attempted suicide in February 1999, when she went to a hotel and tried to cut her femoral artery in a bathtub. The wound clotted up and she sought treatment for her depression. She had a series of up to 44 electro-shock therapy treatments and went back on medication, Logan told jurors.
Logan said the post traumatic stress disorder developed after she drove her car off the road into the Iowa River with Seth and Sean. She told police and doctors she reached down to get a pacifier and went off the road, but admitted to Logan it was a suicide attempt, according to testimony. Logan, a defense witness, also admitted under cross-examination that Kehoe told other doctors that when her car went into the Iowa River in December 2007, it was an accident, not a suicide attempt. The jury this week found Michelle Kehoe guilty of murder, and that she new right from wrong.
This is another example of psychiatrists for the defense with one analysis and others for the prosecution having an opposite analysis on the same case. It is evidence that Psychiatry is not a science but opinion, and lack of consensus on how the mind works. The only idea they appear to agree on is to push psychotropic drugs and take no responsibility for the disastrous results. Every time you hear of news reports of mass killings or suicide you will find psychotropic drugs involved. The psychotropic drug aspects of these murders will not be broadcast by the media, and the government and FDA will take no action. The media needs the pharmaceutical advertising, so they will find other reasons for these murders and suicides except the obvious. The FDA is run by psychiatry and the pharmaceutical companies, and they are not even embarrassed by the results. The public needs to wake up and said enough is enough. There is an enormous amount of evidence which indicates that psychotropic drugs are directly related to aggressive behavior, and cause more depression then they will ever relieve.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Foster kids, psychotropic prescriptions- finally alarm

Foster Kids have been continually drugged by the social services system in Florida. There have been many articles highlighting this desperate saga where neglected kids get drugged and some have committed suicide while under the guidance of Florida Government Services. The Florida governments only solution is drugs, drugs, drugs…

This is a recent article by Fred Grimm of the MiamiHerald
Foster kids, prescriptions -- finally alarm


Gabriel Myers finally matters.

Too late for him -- the foster kid we addled with anti-depressants and anti-psychotics without quite knowing the effects drug cocktails might have on a 7-year-old.
One potential side effect of feeding Lexapro, Zyprexa and Symbyax to a 67-pound child became grotesquely obvious. Young Gabriel coiled a shower hose around his neck and hanged himself in the bathroom of his Miramar foster home.
Gabriel's death on April 15 roiled child advocates, critics of the pharmaceutical industry, the media. But this week, a child's suicide finally elicited a reaction where it matters.
``I tell you, we're going to do something. We're going to do a full-court press,'' said State Sen. Tony Hill, a Jacksonville Democrat, still shocked after members of the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee were briefed Wednesday by the Gabriel Myers Task Force.
UNACCEPTABLE
Committee Chair Rhonda Storms, a Valrico Republican, told reporters, ``I cannot accept or believe that a little child cannot be reached except by drugging him and drugging him and drugging him.''
The task force catalogued drug regimens for foster children that the FDA never approved for children. It described a system blighted by haphazard oversight. No one within the child-care bureaucracy took direct responsibility for the child's complex psychological needs. No one was looking out for a profoundly troubled child's best interest.
Hill railed that Gabriel's foster parents, schools, case workers and doctors hardly spoke to one another as his problems escalated. ``No communication,'' he said, his voice rising in anger.
No one acted as a parent. A vigilant, caring parent would have questioned a pharmaceutical solution to the little boy's behavior. Child advocate Andrea Moore read the task force report and worried that the doctors had responded more to bureaucratic needs of the system than the therapeutic needs of children. About 22 percent of the foster children aged 6 to 12, and a third of foster kids 13 to 17, are on psychiatric drugs. Such numbers, utterly out of whack with the general population, defy any explanation other than foster kids were to be transformed into compliant little zombies.
``We're going to find out,'' Hill promised, describing a bipartisan fury. ``We're going to find out why doctors are writing these prescriptions, and we're going to find out about the relationship between the doctors and drug companies.''
`MAJOR CHANGE'
Advocates like Moore have long complained that state foster care facilities administered psychotropics in lieu of providing real therapy. Five years ago, the Legislature passed supposed safeguards to rein in the pill madness. Obviously, they didn't work.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies have been encouraging doctors to prescribe unapproved, off-label uses for their expensive, profitable drugs.
DCF has promised to revisit psychotropics regulations. Hill promised tough legislation. ``Major, major change is coming. The whole committee is behind this.'' He said drug companies ``can lobby all they want. They can't stop this.''
It took the death of a child to arouse the legislators. ``I admit, I didn't know this was going on before Gabriel,'' Hill said, using the boy's name to describe a tragic event. ``That should never have happened to a child.''
But now, hopefully, it matters.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Is Your Child Genius an ADHD Ritalin Candidate Also?

Einstein, Newton, Edison, Beethoven, Caruso, and Churchill were all ADHD candidates. What would the world be like without them? Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and he didn’t read until he was seven. The instructors described him as mentally slow, unsociable and a dreamer. He was later expelled from school.
Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was too stupid to learn anything. Isaac Newton did very poorly in grade school while singer Enrico Caruso’s was informed he had no voice and couldn’t sing. Winston Churchill failed sixth grade, and Beethoven was awkward with the violin and preferred to compose instead of play. His instructor called him hopeless as a composer. If these world changing men were boys today they would be evaluated as ADHD candidates and subscribed Ritalin a schedule 2 drug similar to cocaine. Our pharmaceutically drug induced children have no chance to become the likes of these great men.

There is no single test for ADHD. In fact there is no scientific test at all for ADHD. It is entirely made up, by taking the most annoying habits of children and calling it a disease. It creates a market for pharmaceutical companies, and invoices for psychiatry. Please see adhdfraud.org and the book ADHD Fraud by Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD. Here are the symptoms of ADHD according to the drug pushers. ADHD is diagnosed after a child has shown six or more specific symptoms of inactivity and or hyperactivity on a regular basis for more than six months in more than two settings. The symptoms that can get your child diagnosed as ADHD are constant motion, fidgeting, not listening, difficulty paying attention, excessive talking, easily distracted, and not completing tasks. Virtually all children demonstrate behavior like these while growing up. Most Ritalin and ADHD diagnosis is prescribed to children 6 to 12 years.

The side effects of Ritalin according to the DSM Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders,(Psychiatry’s owners manual) include stunting of growth, depression, insomnia, nervousness, skin rash, anorexia, nausea, dizziness, headaches, abdominal pain, blood pressure and pulse changes, and Tourette’s Syndrome which is a permanent and irreversible condition characterized by body tics, spasms, screaming obscenities, and barking sounds. The drug is under the same federal category as cocaine, opium and morphine, since it is such an addictive and dangerous drug. Withdrawal symptoms can be severe and include depression, fatigue, paranoia, increased dreaming, irritability, bedwetting and suicide. How could a mother provide a drug with these side effects to their child? How can the FDA approve of such a drug for children for a disease that is completely made up?

Where would we be without the Einstein’s, Newton’s, and Beethoven’s of the world and where is the world going today by subscribing so many as ADHD candidates? It is estimated that 90 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD will be prescribed Ritalin as part of their treatment. Prescriptions increased 450 percent from 1991 to 1995, climbing from a nationwide consumption of 4,000 pounds to 18,000 pounds annually, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). This is a DEA statistic not an FDA statistic. That should tell you something alone. Why because it is a schedule 2 drug like cocaine and opium. Ritalin is made by the pharmaceutical company Novartis and it is the brand name for the drug methylphenidate. It's taken as tablets and takes effect after about four hours and a second dose and third dose maybe necessary every four hours throughout the day. As we have noted it is an addictive drug. Other similarly prescribed ADHD drugs are Dexedrine (dextro-amphetamine), Adderall (mixed dextro- and levo-amphetamine) and, Gradumet, and Desoxyn (which are methamphetamine which is basically speed or commonly called ‘ice”').

Since ADHD is simply fraud and the drug given to your child is simply “speed or ice” then the alternative is easy, don’t agree to the diagnosis. You’re the parent your in charge of your child’s health and welfare. The home remedy alternative is to reduce the sugar intake for your children and put them on a better protein and vegetable diet. You can assist them by getting them a tutor for school when they are having difficulty, or adding extra school time so they get the subject matter better. Children also need to be more active in sports or athletics which teaches concentration and team work. It also burns calories, and they can win at games which improves their well being. These simple steps alone can correct your child’s behavior. Drugs are not the answer and they will never be the answer.

Stop Foundation Inc. www.stoprx.org Stop Foundation Inc. was formed to make the public aware of the effects of psychotropic drugs. We have a wealth of information including books and many alternative remedies you can pursue. Please visit the website and donate today.

Monday, September 28, 2009

BigPharma’s Deceptive Plan to Include Everyone as a Antidepressant Candidate-Our Case study is Cymbalta by Eli Lilly

Firstly you need to know that Pharmaceutical company’s assessment is only a theory. They have no idea what causes depression. They have no scientific study or evidence that drugging someone will alleviate depression. Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl) is FDA approved for depression and also for general anxiety disorder and management of diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia. This is from a Cymbalta Ad “There are many theories about the cause of depression. One common theory is that depression is caused by an imbalance of naturally occurring substances in the brain and spinal cord”.
(that is correct it is FDA approved drug based on a theory).

A typical Ad for Cymbalta try’s to include anyone with any malady as a possible effect of depression. Here is a synopsis of how Cymbalta categorizes depression.
Major depressive disorder "depression" is a serious medical condition with a variety of symptoms (they are trying to generalize). Emotional symptoms can include sadness, loss of interest in things you once enjoyed, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, restlessness, and trouble concentrating or making decisions (this can include virtually anyone). Physical symptoms can include fatigue, lack of energy, and changes in weight (all humans) or sleep patterns (again any active person can get fatigued and lack energy). Additional symptoms of depression may include vague aches and pains (vague pains come on be serious, again generalizing), irritability, anxiety, and thoughts of death or suicide. Suicide is a known risk of depression and some other psychiatric disorders. (Here they indicate thoughts of suicide is a sign of depression, and also taking their drugs can cause suicide)
People with a family history of depression (They don’t know the cause or depressions but here they indicate depression can be genetic) may be more likely to get the disease, but anyone (including everyone here) can become depressed. Sometimes the triggers are external — for example, relationship troubles or financial problems (the planet is in a recession, that’s everyone here). At other times the disease may begin with physical illness or hormonal shifts (a normal woman’s hormonal change is depression according to Eli Lilly, how did the human race evolve). Depression also may occur without any identifiable trigger at all. (they admit here again they don’t know the cause)
The point we are trying to make is pharmaceutical companies in this case Eli Lilly-drug Cymbalta describes everyone as a candidate for their drug. Their entire plan is to put the human race on an antidepressant. Yet they have no scientific evidence for the cause of depression. Does that sound like a good plan for the human race? A placebo has been found to be as effective as antidepressants. Research the studies for yourself. In addition their drug can give children and young adults suicidal thoughts and actions.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Anti-Smoking Drugs Can Create Suicidal Thoughts and Aggressive Behavior

In January of this year, David Collins killed himself with a shotgun just three months after he began taking Chantix (varenicline) a smoking cessation drug made by Pfizer. Linda Collins who is David Collins widow has filed a lawsuit in Indianapolis against Pfizer over Chantix (Champix in other countries) its side effects and its possible failure to provide warnings to users. Mr. Collins had no prior history of mental illness, but before his suicide Mr. Collins exhibited aggression and strange behavior. More details will be divulged once the lawsuit progresses and apparently increases in size (chantixsuicidelawsuits.com). The FDA had reported thirty nine suicides and nearly five hundred cases of suicide behavior or thoughts of suicide from the use of Chantix. These suicide behaviors regarding Chantix are similar to the black box warnings that all drug companies are compelled to divulge on their antidepressant labels. Just two months ago, the FDA required Chantix (varenicline) and Zyban to carry a black box warning due to side effects including depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal actions.
Zyban made by GlaxoSmithKline involves bupropion an antidepressant drug which acts as a norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor and nicotinic antagonist. This drug is cross marketed as an antidepressant and smoking cessation drug. To our knowledge Chantix is not cross marketed as an antidepressant. But apparently Pfizer likes to cross market drugs legally or not. This week Pfizer settled with the Department of Justice for $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the DOJ. It resolved their criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products. Pfizer “off labeled” drugs for uses the FDA didn’t previously approve of. $1 billion was allocated to resolve allegations under the civil False Claims Act that Pfizer illegally promoted the drugs Bextra, Geodon an anti-psychotic drug, Zyvox, an antibiotic, and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug. What is worse is that Pfizer is a habitual criminal company since they have been found guilty before in a similar case.
Tony West the DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division was quoted by news releases, “Illegal conduct and fraud by pharmaceutical companies puts the public health at risk, corrupts medical decisions by health care providers, and costs the government billions of dollars”. Perhaps this massive fine will curtail Pfizer to some degree, but they will likely need at least three strikes. We think this is the beginning of more and more lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies for cross labeling, inadequate tests and warnings, and drugs that create suicidal thoughts, and aggressive behavior. Consumers need to fully perform their due diligence before taking drugs which have clear controversial effects. Chantix and Zyban have a new warning that the drug can produce suicidal thoughts and behavior. Do you want to stop smoking or stop life?

Saturday, August 15, 2009

The Orwellian Healthy Americans Act to Usher in New Police State in America

The current Health Bill (House bill H.R. 3200) has mental health parity as part of its Health Plan. This parity is set to provide equal opportunity for non-science psychiatry to be equivalent to a medical doctor’s scientific opinion on health. Psychiatric patients are traditionally considered “cured” when their insurance benefits run out. In the upcoming bill “Healthy Americans Act, the compensation to psychiatry will not run out. All the psychiatrist has to do is forward their unscientific opinion on whether a patient is cured or not. The legislation is essentially a multi billion dollar taxpayer fund to psychiatrists. Psychiatry’s only remedy is mass psychotropic drugging. It used to be electric shock treatment, lobotomies, and straitjackets, but they found big allies with Pharmaceutical companies, the FDA and now Congress.
The Senate bill includes an early identification of development and behavior problems of children at risk. There are billions allocated for “treatment”, screening, crisis prevention, and counseling for psychiatric care. Most people will not visit a psychiatrist today, but in the future it could be mandatory for Americans starting with your child, who will then be lifetime clients of psychiatry and BigPharma. There is also funding for “interventions” for seniors. The days (1950’s) of the men in the white coats in an unmarked truck picking up your family member have returned. Grandma will return a month later all drugged up and “cured”.
Also, a new “paraprofessional child and adolescent mental health worker” is in the proposal. The legislation states that this is an individual who is not a mental or behavioral health service professional, but who works at the first stage of contact with children and families who are seeking mental or behavioral health services.” This would be known in the 40’s as Hitler youth informants for the psychiatric SS.
The House bill (H.R. 3200) includes an establishment of School Based Health Clinics for mental health assessment for teen screening, “treatment” (drugging), counseling, and emergency psychiatric care. The school psychiatrist treats, and drugs your child, and the parent has no say in the matter. Every parent should be mortified if this were to occur. It also includes all 374 diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). The originator of the DSM has confirmed that psychiatry has no effective treatment or cure for psychiatric disorders. Psychiatrists have been interviewed and have said the DSM is non-science without any scientific background to justify or validate such disorders as ADHD, sibling rivalry disorder, sexual orientation disturbance, and borderline personality disorder, Bi-Polar, mathematics disorder and other nonsense syndromes and disorders.
The bill essentially provides for unlimited mental health benefits. As there is no objective or medical test for psychiatric disorders, this is a virtual blank check to the mental health industry. It’s a bill so psychiatry can bill. These bills have George Orwell 1984 written all over them. There are enough made up syndromes and disorders to put all Americans on a drug, or an invoice. There is no wonder why Americans are angry over this proposal. Congress loves to include all pet projects, and assist campaign donors in their bills. These bills are a special interest bonanza.
We urge you to contact your congressperson (house.gov) and Senator (senate.gov) and ask that they remove all Mental Health Parity and Mental Health aspects from the bill. This is your time to act and stop a potential police state before it is too late.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Increase in Fatal Heart Attacks Found with use of Antidepressants, Creating a Lethal Pharmadrug Cocktail

A recent study in Finland indicates fatal cardiac arrest was more likely attributed to antidepressants. Just this past May 2009 a study at the University of Oulu, Finland Jussi Honkola MD concluded that people who suffered fatal cardiac arrest were more likely to have taken antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs than those who survived.
The study shows that antidepressants adversely impact the survival of people with coronary heart disease. This can severely impact older people on heart medication and antidepressants. It creates a potential lethal prescription cocktail of multiple drugs with a fatal counter reaction.
Some high profile celebrities have shown a penchant for such a cocktail. Michael Jackson may be a victim of the deadly combination of heart medication and psychotropic drugs. The coroners report is still under review. Police found Xanax, Vicodin, Oxycontin, Valium and other medications in a raid on Jackson’s home. The same drugs as well as Restoril were found at Heath Ledger's hotel room. Anna Nicole Smith was found with over ten different combinations of prescription pills.
In a report from AARP in 2003 the average senior pays $1400/year in prescription drug costs with the drugs ranging from $570-$2200 per year depending on the drug and its use. In a separate report, the average number of prescriptions per person in the US in 1993 was seven. It has increased every year to fourteen prescriptions per person per year as of 2004. The US has clearly become a pill dependent society with the design that a drug cures all. A book by Greg Critser: Generation RX “How Prescription Drugs are Altering American lives, Minds and Bodies” outlines more on this story.
Prescriptions for seniors have been an enormous cash cow for the Pharmaceutical industry with hundreds of billions of dollars being spent annually. The Obama administration is pushing more psychotropic drugs in the upcoming health care bill. Most of this information you have not and will not hear via the media. President Obama has voted in favor of the pharmaceutical lobby in virtually all bills since he was a senator. If this health bill passes with the potential of increasing the insurance cost allowances of prescription drugs then more pharmdrug cocktails are in America’s future. The hope of the Health Care Bill “Healthy Americans Act” can shorten the life for many seniors, and could have a sobering effect on one's lifespan. Be careful what you vote for.

Monday, July 13, 2009

If Water-boarding is Perceived to be Torture then, What About The Current Use of Electric Shock Treatment?

The U.S. prosecutor is considering torture investigation against the prior US Administration. There has been much debate and discourse regarding water-boarding as a possible means of torture, since it simulates drowning. Well, what about electric shock treatment? You may ask is electric shock treatment FDA approved, yes it is. It is called Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and currently in use for patients with severe depression among other uses, and it’s considered safe and effective by WebMD. In last years best picture Slumdog Millionaire, electric shock treatment was used as torture. But today ECT is in practice in the US, UK, Australia, and numerous other nations as a “medical treatment”.

The FDA is now looking at the manufacturers of the electric devises, since there is no current safety and efficacy data from manufacturers. This data they are now requesting would be the equivalent to the information the FDA requires for medical devices and drugs. Electric shock treatment has been in use since the 1930’s, but there isn’t any FDA oversight regarding the equipment which is appalling.

How is ECT applied? The patient is given a relaxant and put to sleep under an anesthesia. Electrodes are then placed on the scalp and an electric current is applied. It then causes a seizure (artificial epilepsy) to the brain. Proponents indicate it is misunderstood, and problems occur because of misuse of the equipment or training. According to reports the main side effect is memory loss. Psychiatrists indicate it is best used with antidepressants, but they contradict themselves since they indicate ECT should be used because of the lack of effects of antidepressants. ECT.org reported in 2000 in a leaked Scottish study that in addition to memory loss, other side effects are impaired speech and a potential vegetative coma. Of the 1300 patients in the study there was one that committed murder, one suicide, two died, and one is incontinent and paralyzed. Initial animal tests have suggested electric shocks could cause irreversible genetic changes. This is just a snapshot of the problems with electric shock treatment and the FDA hasn’t evaluated the manufacturers?

Electric shock appears to be in wide use at The Judge Rotenberg Center “School of Shock” a special needs school in Massachusetts. Their target market is the mentally disabled. It currently takes in children with dow syndrome, autism, bipolar disorder and those labeled emotionally disturbed. They attempt to alter their behavior with electric shock treatment to the body and limbs. There are no studies and none expected that the treatment has any positive effects. It is also a cash cow since the school charges $220,000 per student with the expense being picked up by States and school districts. The school has been under well deserved scrutiny for its use in electric shock, but it is still operating.

Back In 2005 The FDA approved another device that is surgically implanted into a patient’s body to treat depression. It was initially designed to treat epilepsy. It has been approved without data that it actually works at all for depression. The devise, VNS (Vagus Nerve Stimulator) is implanted into the patient’s chest. Wires then pass up through the neck to the vagus nerve, and the device then delivers an electric shock through the nerve which in turn sends the electric shock to the base of the brain. And this is FDA approved! Over half of the patients in a VNS depression study have experienced hoarseness, difficulty breathing, nausea, excessive coughing and difficulty swallowing. In addition deaths have been reported in epileptic patients. Estimates indicate approximately 8000 patients have this VNS devise implanted.

If ECT and Vagus Nerve implants were given the attention of water-boarding then these procedures “torture” treatments would be outlawed on the public outcry alone. Most of the people we speak to believe electric shock treatment was a “treatment” of the past. It is currently in use to address depression and alcoholism. Many survivors has spoken out and written books stating they are lucky to be alive after ECT treatments. The memory loss can be very extreme with dementia like symptoms and people unable to work or maintain a simple normal life. If you feel ECT (electric shock) should be outlawed please sign the petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/endecttorturenow and contact your Federal and State representative and express your views. They can be located via our site www.stoprx.org

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Increased Suicide Rates in Military Personnel

According to the Armed Service Reports, there was an average of five suicides attempts per day in 2008 or 2,100 attempted suicides, versus 350 suicide attempts in 2002. Most of these were failed suicides with 128 soldiers taking their own lives. In 2007 the Army listed 89 soldier deaths as suicides and this number will likely increase once all the data is in. The suicide rates in 2006 were 102, compared to 87 deaths in 2005. At the same time the Army indicates that in 2007 there was a seventeen percent increase in antidepressant and sleeping pill prescriptions for military personnel in combat.
The Army has indicated via news sources that longer tours of duty, estrangement from family, and their stressful situation play a role. We will not argue with the fact combat life is very difficult, but if you combine these factors with a fully trained soldier and the side effects of antidepressants such as: "anxiety, agitation, aggressiveness, hostility, insomnia, irritability, impulsivity, panic attacks, thoughts of suicide and mania" then the situation compounds itself. The Armed Services has created this new policy of prescribing antidepressants as a less expensive means to treat stressed out combat troops. It is far cheaper then to send troops home for R&R, shorter tours, and longer term counseling. The policy change is costing self inflicted losses.
There is certainly a direct connection between antidepressants and suicide. It is clearly written as the FDA “Black Box” warning on all of these psychotropic drugs like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Effexor, and Lexapro have a suicide risk. There appears to be no connection that these drugs prevent suicide or relieve depression. Studies have shown that a placebo has the same effect as these medications. The drug companies advertise that depression is a chemical imbalance, yet that is exactly what these drugs do to the victim users. They alter the natural chemical balance of the person and the true long term effects of this alteration are unknown.
Based on the recent statistics the military suicide rates will increase if the policy remains the same. The Defense Department spends billions on equipment and technology perhaps it can spend a little more quality time with its troops and address their internal enemy within, the mind altering psychotropic drugs.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Legalized Drug Abuse-The Subscription Prescription

If you visit a hospital psychiatrist invariable after a fifteen minute visit and answering a few questions you will be prescribed Zoloft or another brand name antidepressant. You will get a hefty bill for no effort and an ever increasing need for more of Bigpharma’s pills that kill. You will not even get counseling since that takes time and effort. Prescribing a pill is far less labor intensive and a greater bang for a hospitals buck. This is the new mainstream health care system run by pharmaceutical companies as the drug pusher. It's a system that will get you in and out fast and taking an expensive pill, which you will need daily or weekly. It's convenient, and a "subscription prescription" (like phone service or magazines). You will have to resubscribe your prescription. The pharmaceutical drug may not be addictive, but it has side effects, so you will need another drug. The whole drug scheme feeds itself.

There are millions of U.S. seniors taking psychotropic drugs, antidepressants, and Alzheimer's medicines. The number of seniors taking these drugs like Zyprexa has doubled since 1996. There has been an almost 75% increase for seniors and 50% for children during this period. It is more and more because doctors prescribe psychotropic drugs as the first and often only treatment, even when they're not the optimum solution (Read On the Take by Jerome P. Kassirer M.D). Increasingly, when you see your doctor and tell them that you are suffering stress related anxiety they will hand you a prescription of Prozac, Zyprexa, Effexor or whatever the drug the pharmaceutical representative is pushing that month. You would be better off opting instead to exercise and change your diet. Diet and exercise will improve depression naturally. In addition, the side effects of these drugs are appalling.

Typically side effects for the duration of your diagnosis from your fifteen minute visit are suicide, aggressive thoughts, erectile dysfunction, lactating breasts on men, insomnia, anxiety, nightmares, panic attacks, loss of taste and feel, feeling foggy or drugged out, more depressed, bleeding from the nose, nausea, headaches, weight gain just to name a few.

Now would you prefer diet and exercise instead? Stop and think about it. Your great grandparents and grandparents survived both World Wars, and provided a future for you and without taking one pill.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Just say No to Risperdal, It Causes Deformities

Let’s take a look at one psychotropic drug and it’s side effects. Risperdal (risperidone) is an atypical antipsychotic, which may have contributed to the deaths of 31 children since its 1993 approval, according a New York Times article earlier this year. Of the 31 deaths 11 were treated for unapproved uses.
Risperdal is diagnosed for Schizophrenia, ADD and bi-polar disorder, Risperdal is used for “treatment”, but the side effects are putting people at serious risk. The major warning for elderly adults is increased mortality in elderly patients with dementia related psychosis. Hmm, Increased mortality now that is something that should indicate an alarm for the user. Some of the other side effects of this drug are anxiety somnolence, extrapyramidal symptoms(what?), dizziness, constipation, nausea, abdominal pain, rhinitis (nose irritation), rash, anxiety, diarrhea, weight gain, erectile dysfunction, ejaculatory dysfunction, diabetes, obesity, lactation in women, and breasts in men and boys.
Now nobody wants any of these side effects for any pill for treatment, but for a man and boy to get breasts must be confusing and quite mortifying. A report from CBS news indicates a four year old boy using risperdal grew one breast which lactated, and the breasts had to be surgically removed. I think we would all experience a psychological disorder if we had a breast forming on our chest.
The more and more patients become aware of these drugs and effects and that the drugs cause the more we expect them to be considered ancient technology. Doctors used leeching and blistering to “heal” patients hundreds of years ago. We know the true knowledge and effects of these drugs will be known, and their so called “treatment” will be exposed. Making the choice to not take these dangerous these psychotropic drugs and to embrace natural remedies will prove to be the best choice. Patients need to know what you are putting in your body. Just say no to psychotropic RX

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Florida-Court Case Regarding Psychiatrist Overmedicating a Disabled Boy

CAROL MARBIN MILLER of the Miami-Herald reported recently that the mother of a disabled boy who died in 2007 has filed a wrongful death suit in Miami-Dade County against Dr. Steven Kaplin for overmedicating Denis Maltez, 12. The mother is outraged after her son committed suicide after taking a lethal cocktail of four mental health drugs: Seroquel and Zyprexa, both anti-psychotic medications; Depakote, an anti-seizure drug sometimes , which is used to stabilize moods, and Clonazepam, a tranquilizer.

We at Stoprx.org recognize this as another case of psychiatrists only solution to control a teenager is drugs. They add one drug after another to hopefully control or restrain the teenager. The continued overmedication of teens in the US is astounding. The psychiatric community should be embarrassed that more and more of these wrongful death, suicides, and mass murders are all taking place while they are assisting these teens to improve. It's a case of the insane helping the depressed.

We don’t see the improvement coming anytime soon. We see teens being perscribed more and more drugs, and needing more and more assistance with no solution or end in sight. When do you think BigPharma, and psychiatry will get the message that they have no idea what they are doing? Unfortunately it will be never. These Psychiatrists are the same doctors who used electric shock treatment, straight jackets, and lobotomies. Today they use pills, which have side effects causing suicide, mass murder or at best a need for another pill. Now they have President Obama and the US Congress working more on their behalf. The Mothers Act has been introduced three times already and has failed twice. The Mothers Act will enforce all pregnant mothers to see a psychiatrist during her pregnancy, which will be administered by her hospital. This will essentially place all infant Americans on antidepressants. This is George Orwell’s 1984 worst nightmare coming true. All Americans are under threat to be on BigPharma’s drugs from cradle to grave. These drugs don’t do anything but put someone into apathy, or on the front page as a campus mass murderer. The next generation of Americans has become a “new normal” a medicated generation.

We applaud Martha Quesada, the mother of 12-year-old Denis Maltez, filing of the wrongful death suit. We hope more and more of these lawsuits come to light, and more and more of the West become aware of just what these drugs are and are not.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

FDA Should Recall all Antidepressants for their Hand in Deaths to Users

"The FDA urges consumers to discontinue use of Hydroxycut products in order to avoid any undue risk. Adverse events are rare, but exist," said Dr. Linda Katz, interim chief medical officer in the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The FDA has received 23 reports of liver problems ranging from jaundice to damage that required a liver transplant, Katz said. One person died.
Hydroxycut is a diet supplement used by many to cut appetite and lose weight. Now the FDA recalls Hydroycut products because of one death from the product, yet thousands died from suicide and mass murder from the use of psychotropic antidepressants like Prozac, Paxal, Zoloft, and Exfexor yet these drugs are not recalled.
Perhaps cases like the probe in Plymouth County will shed more light the effects of these drugs. Lane Lambert of the Patriot Ledger wrote on Friday May, 1, 2009. The Plymouth County grand jury probe of Dr. Kayoko Kifuji came to light on Thursday, in court documents from the Suffolk County civil case. This is the case in the death of Rebecca Riley.
It’s not clear how long the grand jury has been examining Kifuji’s action. A spokeswoman for District Attorney Tim Cruz declined to confirm or deny whether a grand jury is investigating Kifuji. The former Tufts-New England Medical Center psychiatrist criminally liable for Rebecca Riley’s death, she could face involuntary-manslaughter charges. Rebecca’s parents, Michael and Carolyn Riley, will go on trial later this year on first-degree murder charges in the little girl’s overdose death at their Hull home in December 2006.
Conviction for involuntary manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, though Massachusetts sentences typically are 3 to 5 years. But legal experts say a criminal conviction would be highly unlikely for Kifuji. They indicate it will be a very hard case to make. Kifuji diagnosed Rebecca as bipolar with attention deficit disorder when she was 2½. Kifuji prescribed the powerful blood pressure medication Clonidine and anti-seizure drug Depakote. A medical examiner ruled that Rebecca died from an overdose of those drugs and over-the-counter cold medicine. Carolyn Riley says her daughter died of pneumonia, not the drugs. Kifuji voluntarily gave up her medical license in February 2007, after Rebecca’s parents were charged.
Court evidence of the grand jury investigation surfaced amid fresh legal action in both the civil and criminal cases. Recently, Kifuji’s lawyers asked a Suffolk County judge to postpone her deposition in the civil case indefinitely, and close the entire court record to the public. Kifuji’s attorney, Bruce Singal, said a deposition would force the doctor to claim her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself while the grand jury was looking at the case. But the judge denied both motions.
Ben Novotny, an attorney for Rebecca Riley’s estate, says Kifuji is scheduled to give her deposition on July 6, after the grand jury is finished. She was to have given the deposition May 1, 2009. For the deposition Novotny said Kifuji will be asked about “pretty much all her (medical) conduct,” starting with explaining the bipolar diagnosis. In the court document that mentions the grand jury, Singal says Kifuji “strenuously denies any allegations that her treatment of Rebecca was negligent, let alone criminal.”
We at Stop Foundation Inc are perplexed to find how any parent can condone the use of psychotropic drugs on a child who is 21/2 years old. It is also a wonder how the FDA chooses to recall Hydroxycut for one death when there are numerous deaths like that of Rebecca Riley for malpractice, and FDA malpractice in keeping dangerous drugs out of circulation. The three headed monster of BigPharma, the FDA and Psychiatry continues to march down Main Street like Godzilla reeking havoc wherever they roam.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

An Alternative to Psychotropic Drugs

Virtually every campus or company mass shooting involves the shooter taking an SSRI(selective re-uptake inhibitor) like Prozac, Zoloft, Exfexor, and Paxal among others. A lot of these shooters report that they feel like zombies and they want to get "off their meds". There is a book Prozac Backlash by Joseph Glenmullen which he talks about an aggressive effect when a person is taken "off their meds" abruptly. But the Columbine killers Klebold and Harris were clearly on medication.
These drugs, the huge pharmaceutical companies that make them, the doctor who prescribe them, and the government agencies who support questionable research but are suppose to be the "watchdog" are all guilty of creating a health and legal menace.
The effects of these drugs are well chronicled and are advertised as potentially causing adverse effects such as anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, hypomania, mania, and thoughts of suicide. We are certain nobody wishes to feel any of these effects, and what mother wishes to have their child feel this way.
Chiropractors have been studying and addressing the neurotransmitters of the body since the 50's when Dr. Palmer discovered that Chiropractors can correct abnormalities of the intellect as well as the body. During that period Judges would commit mental patients to Chiropractic Sanitarium, and they produces and much higher cure and discharge rate of release then their rival sanitariums.
Chiropractor practice is a drug free alternative solution to the mass murder effects of pharmaceutical. Before you even think of putting your child on a mind altering drug you should take the safe step and see a chiropractor and exercise a natural cure

Saturday, April 4, 2009

To Move More Prescription Drugs, Sales Reps Sling Swag

This is an article from the St. Petersburg Times which says it all. Doctors continually on the BigPharma take, and unethical sales representatives risking other peoples lives for a dollar. The end result is push the drugs and dosage even if the patient doesn’t need it. Do you still trust your doctor?

By Kris Hundley
St. Petersburg Times Sunday, April 5, 2009

A busy Panama City Fla. Physician had no problem leaving patients to stew in the waiting room while he listened to a pitch about Seroquel from a persistent saleswoman.
"Dr had 3 pat (patients) waiting and did sit down w (with) me," the rep wrote after a series of snubs at the front desk. "You never know what you will get w/dr b."
Every day, legions of drug reps troop into doctors' offices, then scoot back to their cars and enter notes about their encounters onto laptops or handheld devices. They include reminders about everything from medical questions to the doctor's new Nissan 350Z or his kid's Eagle Scout badge.
The notes are uploaded to a secure database at company headquarters and used by the drug rep, her partners and managers as the company refines its sales spiel.
Thanks to thousands of lawsuits pending against Seroquel, AstraZeneca's best-selling antipsychotic, hundreds of pages of call notes concerning several Florida doctors recently were made public. Though specific to Seroquel, the salespeople's notes reflect industry-wide practices. They give insights into what happens behind closed doors while patients cool their heels.
It's not a pretty picture, with sales reps laying on the swag and doctors complaining about late honoraria and angling to get on the AstraZeneca's "advisory board."
Company spokesman Tony Jewell said the drug maker's philosophy is that "any interaction with health care providers should be about providing information that helps them decide on the right medicines, for the right patients, at the right time."
But notes from pharma's emissaries reflect two different goals: Get the doctor to prescribe the drug. Then push him to boost the dosage.
A sales rep in Jacksonville was ecstatic when a nurse practitioner prescribed Seroquel at twice the dosage used by the psychiatrist in the same practice.
"Gave him goodies," the rep wrote. "Biggest user of Seroquel in the office!"

AstraZeneca's sales reps have worked wonders. Though approved only for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, relatively rare mental illnesses, Seroquel has been one of the world's best sellers. Last year sales reached $4.5 billion.
But Seroquel's widespread use for everything from insomnia to anxiety has also triggered lawsuits alleging the drug caused weight gain, diabetes and other health problems. AstraZeneca, a U.K.-based company, denies the charges, noting that the FDA has repeatedly upheld the safety of Seroquel.
It also has denied that its salespeople illegally promoted unapproved, or off-label, uses of the drugs to doctors. Reps "are trained to ensure that every product promotion discussion with (a) health care provider conforms to the FDA-approved prescribing information," Jewell said.
Company lawyers vigorously opposed unsealing sales reps' notes, saying they contained confidential, proprietary information. But at a recent hearing in Orlando's federal court, AstraZeneca agreed to release call notes from before January 2004, when Seroquel received FDA approval for bipolar mania.
Heavily redacted, the notes comprise what the company's commercial brand leader, Alfred Paulson, described as sales reps' "continuous conversation" with a half-dozen Florida health care providers who prescribed Seroquel to plaintiffs in pending lawsuits.
Depicting sales pitches, on which millions of dollars of revenue hinge, as simple "conversations" is an apt description for what, in the end, comes down to the chemistry between two people. Shahram Ahari, a drug rep for competitor Eli Lilly & Co. in 1999 and 2000, now lectures physicians on how to avoid being manipulated by well-trained marketing reps.
"As much as doctors want to think the relationship with a sales person is about the transfer of knowledge, it's the affinity between two people that's the big money-maker for the drug company," said Ahari, who is part of Pharmedout.org, a physician-education group in Washington, D.C. "That's why drug companies hire former cheerleaders and athletes as drug reps instead of scientists. It's a question of how gregarious and engaging you can be."
While AstraZeneca declined to comment on its employees' compensation, industry data shows drug reps earn an average of nearly $100,000 a year, including bonuses based on sales.
They learn sales techniques more often associated with door-to-door soliciting than medical offices. Doc too busy to see you? Send in several sales people, daily if necessary, until you get a sit-down. Show up on rainy days when patients cancel. And even highly paid physicians find it hard to resist a free lunch.
In 1999, Seroquel reps tried to waylay Dr. Maria Carmen Wilson, the Tampa neurologist, four times before hitting gold.
"We were able to speak to her at lunch that we brought for the office," a rep wrote.
Wilson moved from free food to free trips to medical meetings in Spain and Scotland. By early 2002, a drug rep noted that Wilson was using a "ton of Seroquel" for patients with migraines.
Wilson, who says she was surprised to learn that drug reps recorded their interactions with her, denies that she was ever a big Seroquel prescriber. Despite her initial hopes, she says the drug did not turn out to be effective against chronic headaches.
"I still use it in low doses for people with intractable insomnia," said Wilson, an associate professor at the University of South Florida. "But I make sure patients are acutely aware of the potential for weight gain, especially if they have a predisposition to diabetes."
Wilson says the industry-funded jaunts to Europe did not unduly influence her.
"I went because I want to be up-to-date and learn," she said of the seminars, which she did not report, as required, to USF officials. "But frankly, I'd prefer they were in Orlando."

The call notes show that massaging doctors' egos consumed an inordinate amount of a drug rep's time.
Saleswomen in Miami quickly honed in on psychiatrist Dr. Heriberto Cabada's need for extra schmoozing. "Would not pay attention, all about him," wrote one frustrated sales rep in 2001. So the line worker pulled in a "customer solutions" specialist who offered to redo the doc's patient history forms with a personalized logo.
She agreed to Cabada's demands for multiple revisions, "one side only and ... marbled type paper." More attention was funneled his way through a "preceptorship," in which a sales rep shadows the doctor for the day and pays for the honor.
In a few months, Cabada went from prescribing what he called "chicken dosages" of Seroquel to higher doses. Soon after his conversion, however, Cabada closed his practice and moved to Spain, where he now lives. He did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Drug reps are taught to use free samples as a strategic weapon: Parcel them out sparingly, even if there are box loads in the trunk.
"It makes the doctor even more grateful," said former Lilly rep Ahari. "And when he gives a freebie to the patient, the doctor feels like a hero."
Dribbling samples out in small caches, and requiring the doctor's signature each time, also gives the rep another chance at valuable face time.
"Samples are key to access," wrote a sales rep who was routinely brushed off by Dr. John Roy Billingsley in Panama City.
AstraZeneca said it has voluntarily banned many of its "reminder" giveaways to docs — free pens, pads and hand wash emblazoned with drug names. But the company declined to say how such changes have affected its spending on physicians.
Ahari said he doubts drug companies have pared back their marketing budgets. "The money going to influence physicians is exactly the same,'' he said.
"There's absolutely no enforcement of these voluntary guidelines. All the incentives are still in place to wine and dine doctors at Hooters if he needs to."
The reason: it works.
Case in point: Dr. Mohamed O. Saleh, a Jacksonville psychiatrist who was involved in early clinical studies of Seroquel. In 1998, he was telling AstraZeneca reps that their product wasn't effective and two years later he was still dodging salesmen.
By 2003, however, the rep was crowing that Saleh "really loves seroquel for elderly... said that he would — dose of 800 (mg) and even higher if necessary!"
Saleh and his nurse practitioner, Richard Daniel Malcolm, were wooed with everything from holiday treats ("Left pumpkin candy baskets ... put seroquel labels on them") to a video of Saleh for his use during a visit to Africa in 2002.
AstraZeneca also furnished Saleh with freebies for the trip. The payoff: the doctor told the drug rep he would put a picture on his Web site showing "African healthcare workers holding the Seroquel bags filled with (a text book) and pens/etc. Appreciated our support."
Saleh, who said in July that he is still receiving $10,000 to $15,000 a year as a speaker for Seroquel, seemed aware of the persuasive power of drug company payola. In October 2003, he told AstraZeneca reps that he was concerned about his nurse practitioner, who had taken a fishing trip with the Seroquel rep and was pushing for his own speaking gigs.
"Concerned about payments to Dan (Malcolm) and can be inducement for scripts b/c paying so much," wrote one of the two reps assigned to Saleh's office.
Malcolm joined Saleh's office in June 2001, four months after he was disciplined by the Florida Board of Medicine for pleading guilty to charges of domestic battery, driving with a suspended license and fraud in obtaining a medicinal drug.
Neither Saleh nor Malcolm returned calls or e-mails seeking comment.

When doctors complained that patients were ballooning up on Seroquel, sales reps often handed them a study by Chicago psychiatrist Dr. Michael J. Reinstein. Its startling message: "Use of S (Seroquel) to reduce weight and reduce risk," according to a salesman who visited Panama City's Billingsley.
Back at headquarters, however, company executives had serious questions about the validity of Reinstein's findings. "Our clinical colleagues have significant and numerous issues in the past with the quality of research that this group has produced," a note from Seroquel's brand manager said in 2001.
While sales reps were not allowed to explicitly promote Seroquel for anything other than schizophrenia prior to 2004, the notes reflect a not-so-subtle, broad-based push.
In early 2000, Billingsley's sales rep wrote, "S best in new Schizo's, kids, adolescents, bi-pols, blacks and asians."
Dr. Guido Nodal, Jr., a psychiatrist in Hialeah, at first was cautious about Seroquel, fearing potential links to cataracts. In late 2001, he told a male sales rep he would keep the drug in mind only for "smoking sciz pts."
Two months later, however, a female rep wrote that Nodal "LOVES SER. FOR ELDERLY." By year's end he had 15 nursing home patients on the drug. (Later the FDA made all antipsychotics warn that use in elderly with dementia could cause death.)
"Claims that he is switching patients from Risperdal to Seroquel at the nursing homes," a sales rep wrote in 2003. "Writing as much as he can to all patients."
Notes show that in the interim, Nodal received a textbook, mug, penlights ("Using lots"), payment for a preceptorship and dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House. He denies the giveaways influenced his prescribing.
"If drug companies stopped marketing, I think prescribing (patterns) would be more or less the same as they are now,'' said Nodal, who said he tried to become a Seroquel speaker but was not accepted. "It didn't affect me at all."
Nodal closed his private practice last year and now works for the state's Department of Corrections in Florida City. The agency does not allow drug reps to lobby its physicians.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Harvard Psychiatrist thinks his senior is God

Harvard professor Joseph Biederman an apparently deranged Psychiatrist, among other coacademics are part of a lawsuit in New Jersey for failing to report consulting fees. He allegedly failed to fully report approximately $1.6 million in fees from a number of drugmakers from 2000 and 2007. The litigation in the Superior Court of New Jersey involves three drugmakers AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Johnson and Johnson's who are being sued in connection with risks associated with their antipsychotic medications.

"Full Professor" Beiderman's deposition contained a bizarre exchange. (From Informed Consent newsrelease)On page 47 of the deposition , Biederman is quizzed about his professional ranking at Harvard. He notes that his resume is used for academic promotions.

Lawyer: "What does that mean?"

Biederman: "To move in the ranks from one rank, for example, at Harvard, there is instructor, from instructor you move to assistant professor, from assistant professor you move to associate professor, from associate professsor you move to full professor."

Lawyer: "Full professor?"

Biederman: "Hm...mmm."

Lawyer: "What rank are you?"

Biederman: "Full professor."

Lawyer: "What's after that?"

Biederman: "God"

Lawyer: "Did you say God?"

Biederman: "Yeah."

It appears full professors of psychiatry at Harvard are next to God? According to Joseph Biederman he gets his orders from God and God is in agreement of drugging children with psychotropics? Hmm, What ever happened to we are made pure in God image? Then why would a child need a drug? We think "Full Professor" Joseph Biederman is more like "Son of Sam" and he is talking to the devil.

Friday, March 13, 2009

German Teen Prescribed Antidepressants Kills Fifteen in a Drug Rage

The Associated Press confirms that Tim Kretschmer, 17 killed 16 people in Germany last week. In a story published across the Internet. Police investigator Siegfried Mahler states on the record that the shooter (Tim Kretschmer) "underwent several treatment sessions for depression at a psychiatric clinic" and was "prescribed a session of outpatient therapy, which he never began." Once again Antidepressants are at the base of a school shooting.

Thus, the shooter was on psychiatric medications and then quit using them. This created a classic antidepressant withdrawal crisis which is exactly what leads to extreme acts of violence against self or others. As Stoprx.org has reported in a previous story, virtually every school shooter that has taken place in the last two decades was carried out by those who either take psychiatric medications or are attempting to quit them. The deaths of the people killed in these school shootings rests solely on the shoulders of psychiatry, and the drug pushers of BigPharma.

"If we had known this in advance, we would have called him a prototype of a rampager," said Erwin Hetger, the chief of police in Baden-Württemberg, the southwestern German state where the crimes took place.

The fact of the matter is that psychotropic drugs create a prototype for mass murder. This is clearly evident from past cases where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of Columbine High School killed 12, Cho Seung-Hui of Virginia Tech University killed 32 fellow students and faculty, Jeffrey Weise of Red lake Minnesota, and Pekka-Eric Auvinen of Finland both killed nine classmates.

Do you see a pattern here? While many in the media do not? The media will not report this since they are complicit in the crime of the murderous effects of these drugs, or they are benefiting in advertising revenue and sales. You will hear the guns are to blame, or parents, or video games. The truth is that antidepressants are the cause of these violent rampages, and suicide that occur worldwide. How many more of these incidents need to occur until people wake up to what is widely known about these deadly drugs. You can find more information on the effects of antidepressants at stoprx.org.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Suicide and Antidepressants, what is the connection?

This subject has been debated over the last 10 yrs. or more, but we feel we need to keep the awareness of the effects of antidepressants alive. There have been recent suicides like that of Abraham Biggs using the Internet last November. The FDA has issued a Black box warning in 2004 for Pediatric Patients that are being treated with Antidepressant Medications. These were for prescriptions that they label as Major Depressive Disorders (MDD), although doctors can prescribe these drugs for other reasons outside of depression. The FDA black box warning is strictly for children, yet suicide thoughts have been found in adults also.

The FDA has noted, that the data does not clearly establish an association between the use of these drugs and increased suicidal thoughts or actions by pediatric patients. But it is not possible at this point to rule out that antidepressant don’t cause suicide.

Other independent studies found relative risks of suicidal behavior were highest among youths taking Luvox, Effexor and Paxil and lower risks among youths taking Celexa, Zoloft and Prozac. There are two FDA advisory panels who are considering whether the FDA should take action to include stronger warning labels on nine antidepressants linked to heightened suicidal tendencies among children.

There was an astounding study recently released in Sweden from 2006 where they found 52 percent of all suicides among women eighteen to eighty four were using antidepressants. The study of 377 women had filled a prescription for antidepressants within six months of their death. This is one of the most expansive studies regarding the span of age and suicides. We believe these numbers to be more reflective of the side effects of antidepressants. There are many desperate families at a loss to the reason they have lost their child to suicide. The focus should remain on these lethal psychotropic drugs. The more scrutiny, consternation, and attention paid to the effects of these drugs the more the truth become self evident.