Category: Politics and Regulation
Physician aid-in-dying laws spread amid legal challenges
Legalization of physician aid-in-dying is increasing in the U.S. but opponents are taking their opposition to the courts and Congress.
Naturopathy vs. patients: Patients lose
Over the weekend, there was a news story describing two cancer patients treated by naturopaths in New Zealand. Both died, one almost certainly unnecessarily, the other after enduring more suffering than she likely had to. These tragic cases and others reminded me of why it is so appalling that so many physicians are "integrating" naturopathy into "integrative medicine." In reality, they are...
Statins beat supplements
Red yeast rice supplements have poor quality control and there's no clear evidence they do anything beneficial. So why take it?
The Congressional Dietary Supplement Caucus
The Congressional Dietary Supplement Caucus, an officially-recognized Congressional Membership Organization, operates as an in-house mouthpiece for the dietary supplement industry. Both the caucus and the rules allowing it should be reformed to prohibit this.
Doc Doc Zeus: A Glimpse Behind the Scenes of Medical Boards
A novel about a doctor who raped a minor and is being investigated by his state medical board provides behind-the-scene insights into the workings of medical boards. It helps explain why these boards are so often ineffective, why medical malfeasance so often leads to a token disciplinary action rather than to loss of license.
Naturopathy and dubious compounding pharmacies: A deadly combination
In March, it was widely reported that a young woman named Jade Erick had died suddenly of a hypersensitivity reaction while undergoing an infusion of intravenous curcumin ordered by a naturopath named Kim Kelly to treat her eczema. The FDA investigated and found egregious problems with the injectable curcumin used. This tragic incident thus serves to demonstrate how dangerous a combination naturopaths...
The cruel sham of “right-to-try” takes a giant step towards becoming federal law
So-called “right-to-try” is a cruel sham that holds out the false hope of survival to terminally ill patients and their families. In return, all they have to give up is patient protections and agree to pay to be guinea pigs to test a drug company’s product. The product of an ideology that uses the terminally ill as shields to hide the ideological...
Naturopathic conquest of New England nears completion
Rhode Island is poised to become the latest state to succumb to the false notion that licensing naturopathic “doctors” will protect the public health and safety, making naturopathic conquest of New England complete.
Sen. Ron Johnson: Holding the bill funding the FDA hostage unless the cruel sham that is right-to-try is added to it
Advocates claim that "right-to-try" laws help terminally patients by allowing them access to experimental drugs before approval, when, in fact, such laws strip legal and regulatory protections from patients using such drugs and their purpose is actually to undermine and weaken the FDA. Now advocates led by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) are making a new push to pass right-to-try by embedding it...
Australian review: Get homeopathy out of pharmacies
An independent review of Australian pharmacy practice has recommended that homeopathic products be kept out of pharmacies.