News Updates for a Changing Profession

Check out these two interesting medical news blurbs on nytimes.com:

Harvard Neurosurgeon Awarded $1.6 Million in Harassment Suit

A jury awarded $1.6 million to a female neurosurgeon at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital after determining she had been exposed to a hostile work environment and been the subject of retaliation after she complained. The Boston Globe says Dr. Sagun Tuli sued the hospital and her boss, Dr. Arthur Day, chairman of neurosurgery. Dr. Tuli, 39, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, testified that Dr. Day repeatedly made demeaning statements to her while she was operating, once telling her, "You are just a girl. Are you sure you can do that?" On another occasion, during a dinner, asking her to get "up on the table and dance for us."

Medical Device Maker to Report Doctor Payments Online

The medical device maker Medtronic will start publicly disclosing its payments to doctors online, reporting anyone who receives payments of $5,000 or more a year in consulting and other fees, The Wall Street Journal health blog reports. The action comes as some United States senators push for what they're calling a "physician payment sunshine act" that would require all companies to disclose their financial arrangements with doctors. Medtronic has been accused of paying kickback to physicians who use its products.

--I think the lessons here are this: the future of medicine has no room for the macho crap and that you'd better be careful with your relationships with device makers and big pharma.

Cuomo, Fighting for Docs

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has made fighting health insurance companies his forte. Check out the article HERE. A third industry giant Wellpoint, has voluntarily come forward to reform their payment practices. This followed Aetna and Cigna; both companies paid fines and hired third parties to rebuild their out-of-network payment database. Cuomo has now established for himself a legacy of fighting insurers' outdated and unethical payment schemes as well as other abuses in the health care industry.

It is about time that someone start policing these companies. For years health care spending in this country has skyrocketed, physician pay has remained fairly stagnant, and the financial burden of health care on the average person has increased dramatically (even serving as a leading reason for bankruptcy.) Yet somehow, the insurers are sucking up enormous profits. This industry has been given a free ride for a long time. Especially with the attempt at medicare privatization, when the federal government wasted tax dollars in trying to alleviate the medicare beauracracy. It has been revealed in various reports that these privatization plans lead to higher patient cost burden. That is not, I assume, what was intended.

I am glad to see that Cuomo has begun fighting insurers. Profiting off our health care system is a privelege that they have, and that privelege must be retained through responsible behavior in the marketplace.

Thank You Mr. Attorney General.

Med School - No Longer a Social Ladder?

It seems apparent that in the United States the increasing costs, debt burden, and the economic crisis has limited the number of poor and lower-income families to send their kids to medical school. This is not an isolated American problem, as pointed out in this article the British system is experience the same limitations on social mobility through medical education. However, I must point out that their average debt is approximately only $53,ooo as opposed to the U.S. which is around $140,000!

When the economy gets its feet back on the ground, we need to really push for more grants, tuition caps and other strategies to rein in the costs. We also must press the government to return the interest deferment during the first 3 years of residency.

This country used thrive off of opportunities provided with hard work, diligence, and a good professional education. If medical school becomes an educational luxury of the upper middle class and rich only, then this country will lose a large -and hard earned- reputation of having an economic ladder and opportunity for all.

Entrepreneurs: the missing link in the training of medical scientists

I found this great article from the journal Nature. It talks about how academia, particularly in medicine tries to shield young, impressionable students from the private sector. The idea for this makes sense from a superficial observation. I mean, if all of my fellow students took notes with Viagra pens I would be worried about the future! But, honestly I think we have to approach this issue with more pragmatism. The greatness of medicine in this country has come when the research world and academia bridged itself to private industry, in a harmonious way. The article says,

"the major reason universities are reluctant to engage the private sector stems from a deep-seated feeling that their students represent a particularly vulnerable population, and must be protected from corrupting industry influences."

If students were taught more explicitly how to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and to translate their knowledge into the private sector - then their more pure aspirations of helping people are much more likely to come to fruition. I think essentially it must be a safe but encouraging balance between medical scientists in training and the private sector. Under the proper supervision and armed with a healthy reality of how business works, we can bridge the gap.

The FDA's Culture of Fear

In an article by the Wall Street Journal titled "FDA Scientists Ask Obama to Restructure Drug Agency" , they discuss a letter written by several FDA scientists to Obama's transition team. The letter explicitly tells of fishy business going on within the agency including a culture of fear among the honest employees. The "corrupt" agency employees have created an uncomfortable environment for those without their hands in the industry's pocket. It seems obvious that a regulatory group of an extremely profitable industry would have corrupt infiltrates, but to have such an openly sensed fear from those scientists who are truly trying to objectively analyze the data on drugs, devices, and other treatments, is a devastating reality.

Can we not find a balance between the profit incentives for innovation and public safety? The pharmaceutical industry as well as the device industry surely have developed some incredible, life saving and quality of life-improving things. At the same time that we embrace this and appreciate it, we must remember that regulation should do just as its name describes, regulate. Obama and Daschle need to work very hard to make sure the FDA remains as uninfluenced and corrupt-free as possible in order to maintain a scientifically objective regulatory body for the industry. This could mean reorganizing and self regulation improvements.

In return for record profits, all we ask is that the data these companies provide as proof for their product's success be scrutinized to the fullest extent- without worry that industry profiteers are letting them slide through unscathed.