http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/health/22radio.html?ref=business
This article is alarming in the extent of serious ethical judgments it reveals various psychiatrists have made by recommending medications produced by the companies that are paying them big bucks as to act as "consultants." The article centers on the efforts by Senator Grassley to check for any conflicts of interests within the psychiatric community and what he has discovered, to date, is shocking. For example, on a regular show on NPR Dr. Goodwin highly touted to parents the use of mood-stabilizers for their children who have been diagnosed as bi-polar while simultaneously being paid by a pharmaceutical company that produced these medications. Though he has personally received $1.3 million for his "consulting" work with pharmaceutical companies, he never reported such to NPR. In another example, Dr. Biederman from Harvard has been a powerful advocate for the use of powerful antipsychotic drugs for children while also earning a total of $1.7 million from drugmakers. Many of you have already heard about Dr. Nermeroff from Emory who earned $1.2 million from 2000 to 2007 while acting as a strong advocate of the use of medications. Have any of you heard about any official response or appropriate actions taken by any of the psychiatric associations? I haven't been aware of such and yet these type of stories do great harm to the publics trust of the clinical field generally. Joan Joan Warmbold [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
