The Invisible Hands Guiding Doctors' Continuing Education

by Bob Burton — February 26, 2008 - 11:18pm
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Ray Moynihan reveals that while educational events have been advertised to Australian medical practitioners as being independent, behind the scenes sponsoring drug companies were being offered the chance to nominate speakers and topics relating to their drugs. At the center of the controversy is Healthed, which describes itself as "one of Australia's most popular and respected providers of education for health professionals." In 2006 one drug company, CSL, agreed to a "platinum sponsorship" package costing $A18,000 for four seminars to help promote its pain relief drug, Tramal. In an email, CSL wrote to Healthed founder, Dr Ramesh Manocha, asking that he "determine the speaker's opinion re: Tramal as I would like to ensure he positions it appropriately." In response Manocha wrote that he would "reconfirm opinion of headache speaker regarding Tramal to ensure balanced presentation."

Main Source: 
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, February 24, 2008

Comments

Sigh

Submitted by Pani113 on February 28, 2008 - 8:12pm.

Of course medicine is controled by Pharma. Nothing counts but profit anymore. And government will not do a damned thing about it, because government is nothing but mechanism to protect and promote the agendas of the special interest most able to control it. Govenment is the new vehicle to drive the public into the poor house and politicians are the chaufeurs that make it possible.

And if that were not enough, the average sheeple never questions their doctor. And neither does anyone else. I picked up teaching a social psy class that talks about nurses blind deference to doctors. One doctor treated a patient for an ear infection. He wrote "put drops in R ear." But his writing was sloppy. Yet neither nurse or patient questioned why they were taking it up the *ss!!!!!

Invisible Hands..

Submitted by jozinny on February 27, 2008 - 3:34am.

Zin@zinwatch

A very apt choice of words in this field of knowledge. Yes, I do have some previous experience in what was then the fully R&D pharamaceutical industry and which by-and-by also became marketing and PR-led (certainly in terms of expenditures).

But if you'll forgive me, this is my first time submission here - I read it quite often and receive rss feeds - an issue came up today which I believe holds both guiding hands mindset as well as variation in method aka deliberate deceit. Of interest to all PRwatch readers.. It would not be the first time that Down Under has served as testbed for elsewhere..