All for a BUCK!
"US cites Boston psychiatrist in case vs. drug firm; Complaint alleges kickbacks to MDs" by Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff | March 6, 2009
Federal prosecutors say that a Massachusetts General Hospital psychiatrist became a "star spokesman" in helping a pharmaceutical company promote its drugs for treating depressed children, even though the medications were not approved for pediatric use by the US Food and Drug Administration.
I'm tired of poison being shoved down our kids' throats by greedy, immoral "doctors."
In a complaint unsealed last week in US District Court in Boston, prosecutors allege that New York-based
So what else is new, hmmm?
In the 34-page complaint, prosecutors said that from 1999 to 2006, Dr. Jeffrey Bostic, director of school psychiatry at the hospital, gave more than 350 Forest-sponsored talks and presentations in 28 states, many of which addressed pediatric use of Celexa and Lexapro.
"Forest also paid Dr. Bostic to meet other physicians in their offices in order to ease their concerns about prescribing" the drugs, the complaint said. Doctors are allowed to prescribe children drugs not approved by the FDA for pediatric use, a practice called "off label" use.
Yeah, but THEY CARE about YOUR KIDS, right?
The government said that Bostic became "Forest's star spokesman in the promotion of Celexa and Lexapro for pediatric use" and that the company paid him more than $750,000 between 2000 and 2006 for his presentations. The complaint quotes an unnamed Forest sales representative as saying, "Dr. Bostic is the man when it comes to child psych."
Bostic declined to be interviewed, but the hospital gave the Globe a statement describing him as a "highly regarded practitioner and educator in the field of psychiatry." The hospital said Bostic cooperated with the government, providing investigators with information about his speaking engagements.
"The United States complaint is brought against Forest Laboratories, not Dr. Bostic," the statement said. "The complaint consists of characterizations and allegations by the United States, not established facts. In those speaking engagements, Dr. Bostic talked to fellow physicians about the treatment of patients with various mental health conditions, not about one or two specific drugs."
On his Mass. General website on school psychiatry, Bostic outlines several treatments for depression in children and teenagers, including counseling and cognitive behavior therapy, as well as antidepressants.
How about JUST LETTING KIDS be KIDS without SHOVING SHIT DOWN THEIR THROATS?!!!!
He mentions Lexapro and Celexa along with several other medications, and says, "There is no best medicine to treat depression."
Yeah, WHATEVER brings in the MOST $$$$!!!!
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The allegations against Forest are part of a legal and political backlash against potential conflicts of interest in medicine, particularly in psychiatry. US Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, has accused another Mass. General child psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph Biederman, of failing to tell Harvard Medical School until last March about most of the more than $1.5 million that the pharmaceutical industry paid him in consulting and speaking fees between 2000 and 2007. Biederman has said in statements and letters to the Globe that he has been conscientious about requirements that he disclose payments to his employers and that drug company money has not biased his research.
--more--"
Also see: Corporate Health Care Pays Bribes to Drug Your Children
And like I said, they are LITERALLY PRESCRIBING YOUR KIDS to DEATH!!!
A lawyer for the estate of Rebecca Riley, a Hull 4-year-old who died of an overdose of psychiatric drugs, argued before a malpractice tribunal yesterday that the girl's psychiatrist had committed a "laundry list" of medical misdeeds and should be held responsible in her death.
Rebecca's parents, Michael and Carolyn Riley, are accused of intentionally overdosing her in December 2006 to keep her sedated. They are awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder.
I think I'm going to be sick this morning! I can hardly believe what I am reading here.
In an initial hearing as part of a civil suit brought by Rebecca's estate against Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, the plaintiffs presented a letter yesterday from a child psychiatrist in Florida they hired to review Kifuji's care of the girl.
Dr. Howard A. Goldman stated in the letter that Kifuji endangered Rebecca by overprescribing several heavy-duty medications.... Goldman's letter says Kifuji diagnosed Rebecca with bipolar disorder too quickly; ordered too many drugs; failed to monitor their potentially deadly side effects; and did not heed warnings from Rebecca's school nurse that the girl had become like a "floppy doll."
My heart is absolutely breaking that a CHILD could be TREATED in such a way!!!
Rebecca's death heightened the controversy around the growing practice of prescribing psychiatric medications to children, and particularly highlighted the question of whether young children should be diagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated with antipsychotic drugs.
Quick answer: NO!!!!!!!!!!!
Her parents deny killing her, and their lawyers say Rebecca died of pneumonia rather than of an overdose.
That's the lamest fucking excuse I've ever heard. So why didn't you get here to a doctor if it was pneumonia?
The Suffolk Superior Court tribunal, which consists of a judge, a lawyer, and a doctor, took the arguments under advisement and is expected to decide within a day or two whether the suit against Kifuji can go forward....
Just wondering why the Globe NEVER GOT BACK TO the STORY!!
PROTECTING Big Pharma again, 'eh, Globe?
And ABOUT those VACCINES!
"NO AUTISM In Never-Vaccinated Children
Homefirst's medical director, Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, told us he is not aware of any cases of autism in never-vaccinated children; the national rate is 1 in 175, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We have a fairly large practice," Eisenstein told us. "We have about 30,000 or 35,000 children that we've taken care of over the years, and I don't think we have a single case of autism in children delivered by us who never received vaccines. "We do have enough of a sample," Eisenstein said. "The numbers are too large to not see it. We would absolutely know. We're all family doctors. If I have a child with autism come in, there's no communication. It's frightening. You can't touch them. It's not something that anyone would miss."
But the LYING GOVERNMENT says there is NO LINK!!!
