Home   About Us   Contact

Mission Statement

Medical Accountability Network provides resources on issues of integrity¹ in medicine. This site focuses on informed consent as the keystone² to an ethical physician patient relationship. Through advocacy and education the MAN seeks to raise the responsibility of participants in all quarters affected by medical matters.

1. Integrity: Freedom from corrupting influence or motive (Webster's Dictionary, 1913);
    Steadfast adherence to strict moral or ethical code (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000).
2. Keystone: The central supporting element of a whole (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000)

Coroner Urges Care With Use of Anti-Depressants. A coroner has again reiterated warnings for careful consultation and monitoring of patients prescribed a type of anti-depressant medication. Three recent deaths were tied to anti-depressant medication.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1401178/coroner_urges_care_with_use_of_antidepressants/

Our Daily Meds: How The Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves Into Slick Marketing Machines And Hooked The Nation On Prescription Drugs is the newest book by award winning reporter Melody Petersen. She describes drugmakers as an industry whose core drive is profit, and one that has insinuated itself, through money, into every level of drug research. Watch Bill Moyers interview of Peterson.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05162008/profile.html

Shine a Light on Drug Industry Influence. Drug marketing is out of control. Help send a message to Congress. Support the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which will require drug companies to publicly report their gifts and payments to doctors. Drug companies spend at least $25 billion each year marketing to doctors. We pay for that with every drug we buy. By increasing transparency, the Sunshine Act will help protect patients and help counter the skyrocketing costs of drugs. Sponsored by: National Coalition for Appropriate Prescribing. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/sunshine

Big Brother Wants To Know If You Are Taking Your Pills. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) have developed a sensor necklace that can record when its wearer has swallowed pills, and sends the info wirelessly to a database. It relies on tiny magnets being placed within pills, which are identified as they pass the neck sensor. http://www.newsweek.com/id/134018

Drugs Can Cause the Very Symptoms They Treat. According to Drugs.com, possible side effects of Paxil include mood changes, anxiety, panic attacks, trouble sleeping, irritability, agitation, aggressiveness, severe restlessness, mania, thoughts of suicide or hurting yourself. Are these really any different from the symptoms one suffers through with depression, or perhaps even worse?
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/health/15847580/detail.html

New law deepens financial ties between Big Pharma and the FDA. Health freedom advocates are outraged at the selling out of American consumers as the FDA “drug safety” bill passes in the U.S. Senate. The new bill keeps drug makers’ profits safe, but that’s about all. http://www.naturalnews.com/021838.html

Generation Rx: New Documentary Exposes Mass Betrayal of Children by FDA and special interests. Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xehHwkPpevk

FDA panel reviews Lasik risks. Most patients obtain perfect vision, but some have long lasting problems. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/Oct/07/fda-sees-lasik-problems/

"It may be better to use diapers and be able to think clearly than the other way around," said researcher neurologist Dr. Jack Tsao. People on popular bladder control drugs and other medications that block the brain chemical acetylcholine have a 50% faster rate of decline in mental functioning as they age. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ap-incontinencedrugs-mem,1,6039007.story

Drug dealers just got richer. Pharmacy benefit managers reap the benefit of exclusive drug distribution agreements. Epilepsy drug Acthar Gel has jumped in price from $1,600 a vial to $23,000 per vial. The exclusive distributor of HP Acthar Gel is Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management company. Express Scripts is the drug management company for large employers, and is supposed to help companies get medicines at the best available prices. Read the New York Times article that discusses this gross conflict of interest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/business/19specialty.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Junk science is flourishing in medical journals. Inventors of a new scorecard of Alzheimer’s symptoms are in the pay of Alzheimer’s drug makers Wyeth and Elan Pharmaceuticals. The new test, in turn, is used to ‘prove’ how well their drug works.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10410647/1/elan-and-wyeth-had-ties-to-studys-authors.html

Suicide and prescription drugs. An increasingly long list of drugs is now carrying warnings that they cause depression and may provoke suicide. All of the antidepressants carry such a warning, and now flu medications Tamiflu and Relenza are suspected, as well as acne drug Accutane and asthma inhaler Singulair. http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-psycheffects14apr14,1,7572643.story

Hiding behind the FDA. Drug makers try to convince judges that there are no grounds for lawsuits if their drug is FDA approved. This is no less than hiding behind the shield of the FDA, even though FDA approve itself is in turn heavily influenced by drug company money. http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/2859
 
False advertising of psychiatric drugs exposed. Ads for psychiatric drugs carry claims that cannot be substantiated. A study of drug ads appearing in medical journals found that many claims of drug benefits were simply fabricated, with no supporting scientific evidence whatsoever. Other ads referred to scientific studies, but when those studies were tracked down, they did not support the ad claim 71% of the time. Sometimes the cited article actually disproved the claim. http://www.pharmalot.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/jonmd-drug-ads-2008.pdf

 “Ethical reasons” to stop cancer trials may really be a cover-up for commercial interests. 80% of cancer drug studies are being stopped too soon. The strategy is to stop the trial as soon as a drug benefit is shown, claiming ethical reasons to get the drug to needy patients as soon as possible. This avoids collecting data on the long term outcomes, including deadly side effects. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/09/ncancer109.xml”

Popular flu medication associated with suicide: What you need to know about Roche's Tamiflu.
By Moira Terese Dolan, M.D.

Is it true about the flu?
An alternative to the flu type and hysteria
By Moira Terese Dolan, M.D.

While Rome burns: Collusion With Pharmaceutical Scientific Fraud
And The Prognosis For Dispassionate Academic Discourse
By Aubrey Blumsohn, MBBCh, PhD, MSc, BSc(hons), MRCPath

Pharmacists Need To Do The Right Thing!
By James T. O'Donnell, PharmD MS FCP ABCP

The Doctor Will See You Now
An Inside Look At Prescription Drug Pushing
By Gwen Olsen

Another Bad Idea: Cholesterol Screening In Children
New Guideline Threatens Young Brains
- What The American Heart Association Is Not Telling You
By Duane Graveline, MD MPH 

Not So Miraculous: Telling The Truth About The New Vaccine Gardasil®
- Does It Prevent Cancer? A Guide To Informed Consent
By Moira Terese Dolan, M.D.

Family Caregiver Advocates For Ethical Treatment Of The Elderly
And For Informed Consent Regarding Treatment Decisions
By Jeanne M. Hannah, J.D. 

Protecting Your Heart From Your Heart Doctor: Informed Consent For Cardiac Procedures - Replacing Medical Coercion With Knowledge
By Howard H. Wayne, MD, F.A.C.C., F.A.C.P., F.C.C.P.