I applaud it. The winner developed in vitro fertilization, which has helped millions of parents. In contrast to last year’s prize for telomere research, which has helped no one. Notice what in vitro fertilization is not: It is not taking a powerful poorly-tested drug for the rest of your life — the drug industry’s preferred answer to all problems. It is not expensive (given the benefits). Unlike health care in general. It is not dangerous, unlike many drugs and surgeries. It is not molecular biology. It is barely science (uncovering cause and effect). If the prize were given for research like this year after year, many biologists who now dream of winning a Nobel Prize would stop dreaming. It is not a typical Nobel Prize. They waited so long to award it that the winner became demented. Above all, the prize-winning work was not mainstream medical research. The winner and his collaborator endured “an unremitting barrage of criticism”, unlike almost any other medical researcher.

The award is unflattering to medical ethicists, who did a lot to try to prevent the prize-winning work.

The increase in pediatric bipolar diagnosis, [Dr. Joseph Biederman’s] lawyer said, “cannot be attributed solely to Dr. Biederman’s work.”

This article is a long list of drug-company abuses, such as

Lilly produced a video called “The Myth of Diabetes” to sell Zyprexa, which became its all-time best-selling drug, even though evidence showed that Zyprexa could cause diabetes.

And

Pfizer paid more than 250 child psychiatrists to promote its antipsychotic, Geodon, at a time when it was approved only for adults, according to a government filing with the Pfizer settlement last year. High-prescribing doctors pocketed extra money in the form of research payments, speaking fees, gifts, meals and junkets.

Pharma Gossip. Thanks to Ken Feinstein.

Kim Øyhus, who has a proof that correlation is evidence of causation, told me this story of medical overtreatment:

At 16 I got glass splinters and sand inside my hand when a test tube broke because it was handled too hard. The small local clinic sewed the wound shut without close examination, so a glass splinter and sand remained deep inside. About 5 years later the glass splinter cut itself loose because of bowling, and for about 10 years made the hand problematic to use. It became swollen and partly numb each time I used it with force.

So, 5 years into this I decided to do something about it. My mother contacted the local clinic again. “Come back tomorrow, and we will look at it.” the doctor said to me at the first examination.
The next day I arrived to a ready operation table of the simplest kind, and just the doctor.

“I thought we should look at it today, not operate it,” I said.

“You know perfectly well that that means operating,” he said.

I took that answer as a hint that he might not be an honest person.

In addition he had nervous tics in his shoulders and arms, as well as big thick sausage fingers, as if he plowed hard soil every day.

So, there I lay on the hard mattress, arm outstretched while he plunged the local anesthetic needle hither and dither inside my hand, while my unease continued to grow. So when he took the scalpel and pointed it at my hand, I said “No. There is not going to be an operation today.” and rose from the guerney.

“You can’t just leave like that!” he said.

“It is my hand, so I decide what is to be done with it,” I answered, and left the room with my mother.

Having seen the entire ordeal silently, which is very atypical of her, she was visibly relived, and agreed entirely with my decision. She thought he was extremely nervous.

As we drove away, I saw the doctor sitting smoking on some wooden stacks outside, looking somewhat forlorn. I waved, and he waved back.

Fortunately, the needle had moved the glass splinter to a better place, so the hand was useful again for a few years after that.

When it started getting really bad again, I asked other doctors how stuff like that could be fixed, and they told me that hand operations are exceedingly difficult due to the delicate nature and lots of nerves, tendons, muscles, and so on everywhere tight together, so it requires a surgical team with a very good and experienced surgeon, long operating time, and often unconscious anesthesia. And so it was. They found sand inside nerves. I can tell you that is uncomfortable to have. The glass splinter I knew was there because I could feel it by poking hard with my fingers before the hand got swollen, was nowhere to be found.

The recovery took many years. It’s OK now. And eating omega-3s and dropping carbohydrates this last year significantly improved it. It became softer, more bendable, and more sensitive, less numb, even though it is decades old now.

This Al Jazeera documentary, called “Drug Money”, emphasizes three things.

1. Doctors get vast amounts of money from drug companies, which influences which drugs they prescribe. One influential doctor, Tom Stossel of Harvard, who has received “millions” from drug companies, sees no problem with that!

2. Drug companies encourage the prescription of drugs for unapproved uses. For this and other crimes, more than half of the major drug companies have been found guilty and fined billions of dollars. Several of the not-yet-guilty ones are under investigation. The problem is industry-wide, not due to a “bad apple”.

3. The harm done by deceptive practices isn’t trivial. One example is Risperdal. It isn’t approved to treat ADHD in children, but it is prescribed for that. Given to boys, it can cause them to grow breasts, which is extremely embarrassing. When the boys were given the drugs, their parents were unaware of this possibility. Joseph Biederman, another Harvard professor who has received millions from drug companies and an advocate of giving Risperdal to children, told a Congressional committee he had no idea that a large fraction of all Risperdal is given to children (“I have no idea how much Risperdal is used in children”).

Thanks to Anne Weiss.