March 2007 Archives

The Food and Drug Administration took a step many consider long-overdue and proposed new rules yesterday that would make it tougher for scientists with industry ties to offer advice about approving new drugs and medical devices. The FDA said that most scientists with $50,000 or more in stock, consulting fees or other financial links to companies should be barred from making recommendations to the agency about a related product. Scientists with smaller financial interests would be allowed to participate in agency advisory meetings but could not vote.

Wyoming and Arkansas are the deadliest states for truck crashes, according to Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, a safety group that has called for tougher federal regulation to reduce fatalities resulting from big rig truck crashes. The number of nationwide fatalities each week has remained above 100 nationwide for years.

The safest states for truck crashes were Rhode Island and Massachusetts, based on the number of fatalities per 100,000 residents during 2005, the most recent year with complete figures.

Earlier this week The Boston Globe reported on the very sad case of 77-year-old Jean Dwyer. Mrs. Dwyer seemed distressed as she lay in her bed at a Norwell, MA nursing home last fall, but she could not explain to her grown daughter what was wrong due to her dementia. Her daughter attended her bedside daily for a couple of weeks, and was ultimately told that her mother's organs were shutting down and that she was near death.

Last Halloween it was New York City funeral homes partaking in clandestine selling of cadaver parts, see Modern Day Body Snatchers – now the former director of the cadaver donor program at the University of California, Los Angeles, along with his modern-day Igor, have been charged with conspiracy and grand theft. Both have been accused of illegally trading body parts that had been donated to the University for Medical Research.

Four years ago the Florida Legislature capped certain types of pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice suits, yet Florida doctors still pay the highest malpractice insurance rates in the country. Now, the high premiums for doctors mean ultimatums given to patients - sign away rights to sue over possible medical mistakes or maybe give up your doctor.

We hear daily reports on results from clinical trials for new drugs, and they have a tendency to show positive results - particularly in trials with drug-company funding. A new study appearing on the website of the American Cancer Society, analyzes 140 trials of breast-cancer drugs. In 2003, trials with pharmaceutical-company backing showed positive results in 84% of the studies, compared to just 54 % for trials without industry backing.