Letters From Those Abused and Afraid.

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I get many e-mails, letters and phone calls from doctors, nurses and others who have been abused by  “professional health programs” (PHPs).  Most do not want their letters published for fear of being identified and punished by the PHP.   They are reluctant to do so even with their names and states removed as they feel their complaints alone could reveal their identity to they prying eyes of the PHP.   A few have allowed their letters to be posted and I am doing so here:    Letters From Those Abused and Afraid

I am posting Dr. Roop’s  letter below at his request.  He specifically stated his name and contact information be included. I applaud his courage.   As was the case with the Inquisition, this is system  that relies, above all else,  on secrecy and silence.

Effective “Impression management” requires both promoting positive information…

Integrity and Accountability—Going on two months and no winners stepping forward. Defend the MRO Procedurally, Ethically or Legally and you win all the prizes.

As the Medical Review Officer (MRO)  for the Massachusetts state Physician Health Program (PHP), Physician Health Services, Inc. (PHS, inc.), Dr. Wayne Gavryck’s responsibility is simple.  He is supposed to verify that the chain-of-custody  in any and all drug and alcohol testing is intact before reporting a test as positive.

Dr. Gavryck evidently did not do that here.  In fact for more than a year he helped cover up an alcohol test that was intentionally fabricated at the behest of PHS Medical Director Dr. Luis Sanchez, M.D. and Director of Operations Linda Bresnahan (who told me when I confronted her with the fact that I have never had or ever even been suspected of having an alcohol problem “you have an Irish last name–good luck finding anyone…

Wanted!–a Few Honest Statisticians, Biostatisticans and Epidemiologists who want to make a difference..

It is only a few public policy steps and minor changes in state regulatory statutes before what is described in the ASAM White Paper on Drug Testing comes to fruition.  Before we know it the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industries “New Paradigm” as described here by Robert Dupont will be ushered in.  From the ASAM white Paper:

In  Bending Science: How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research ¹  Thomas McGarity and Wendy Wagner describe how special interest groups scheme to advance their own economic or ideological goals by using distorted or “bent” science to influence legal, regulatory and public health policy.

The authors describe a “separatist view” of science and policy that assumes scientific research is sufficiently reliable for public policy deliberations and legal proceedings when it reaches them.  This is illustrated as a pipeline in which it is presumed  the scientific community has properly vetted the information flow through rigorous peer-review and professional oversight.  The final product that exits the pipeline is understood to be unbiased and produced in accordance with the professional norms and procedures of science.   The reliability, integrity and validity of the final product is indubitably accepted.The separatist  view does not consider the possibility that the scientific work exiting the pipeline could be intentionally shaped and…

January Jones as Betty Draper-Francis on AMC’s Mad Men.

By: Elizabeth Yuko, Ph.D.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

The penultimate episode of AMC’s Mad Men provided an all-too-familiar portrayal of the paternalistic nature of medicine via the handling of Betty Draper-Francis’s diagnosis of lung cancer. While the episode takes place in 1970 and there has since been a gradual shift to a more patient-centered approach in medicine, it offers a glimpse into power imbalances in medical care that still can occur today.

When Betty’s new classmates bring her to the emergency room, the first words out of the doctor’s mouth are “Mrs. Francis, is it possible to get your husband down here?” Betty assumes it is for the purpose of driving her home, but the doctor assures her that it is, in fact, for the purpose of explaining her condition to her husband, Henry, either prior to or at the same time…

This non-fictional work revolves around the theme of scientists reporting facts and being persecuted for it by religious authorities, other scientists, activists, and organizations who feel threatened by the truth or who have a vested interest in the perpetuation of non-truth.  The book starts off with Galileo and his cohorts, such as Versalius, Copernicus, and Bruno (burned at the stake for heresy) who challenged the dogma of the Catholic church with ideas born of keen observation and logical reasoning thus making new discoveries and ushering in the beginning of the scientific revolution.  Galileo’s middle finger, which he once pointed up at the heavens, is now mummified and on display in the Uffizi museum in Florence, Italy. Flashing forward to modern times, Alice Dreger picks up the narrative with several examples of contemporary push-back against scientific facts which ruined careers of researchers, obfuscated the truth, and in some cases, perpetuated harmful medical practices. Each of the these…