Overdosed America The Broken Promise of American Medicine Essay

Overdosed America The Broken Promise of American Medicine - Essay Example To keep the lid sealed on this corruption of medical science-and to ensure its translation into medical practice-there is a complex web of corporate influence that includes disempowered regulatory agencies, commercially sponsored medical education, brilliant advertising, expensive public relations campaigns, and manipulations of free media coverage. And last, but not least, are the financial ties between many of the most trusted medical experts and medical industry". I choose this quote because it encapsulates the scope of this book. Overdosed America, by John Abramson, M.D. is a thought-provoking and riveting assessment of health care and the corruption thereof in America. Pointing to evidence which is concrete and shocking, we are forced to wonder what else is out there that we do not know about. We wonder how mistaken we are to put so much trust into the hands of doctors and the medicines that they peddle. He does not write the book in an attempt to sell a blockbuster best seller. Rather, he wants integrity to return to the field of medicine in a country that can well afford it. This book makes me wonder who is leading who. I had no idea that the majority (80 percent) of clinical research is funded by pharmaceutical companies. How does that amount to honest statistics There is an enormous conflict between the pharmaceutical companies and their influence over the studies that are conducted. Moreover, a tremendous amount of the studies which are reported in medical journals are not complete so not only are we as consumers being duped but so are the people that we rely upon to save our lives! For example, Dr. Abramson detected the frequent use of overblown statistics guaranteed to scare people into a life-long drug regimen. When the New England Journal of Medicine published a study about a new, inexpensive blood test designed to measure blood levels of inflammation in the body called C-reactive protein, or CRP, which supposedly can predict a person's risk of heart disease. The study followed 28,000 women over eight years and found that those with the highest CRP levels were more than twice as likely to develop heart disease. The study's authors concluded that identifying people with elevated CRP would allow "optimal targeting of statin therapy." Simply stated, it was a way to identify future customers for cholesterol-lowering drugs. A closer look at the statistics from this study showed that the 28,000 female participants were less than 55 years old and healthy. Their risk of heart attack, stroke, etc. was quite small. For "every 1000 women with the highest CRP levels, there was only slightly more than one (1.3) additional episode of cardiovascular disease each year than among the 1000 women with the lowest CRP levels." In other words, the twice-as-likely-to-develop-heart-disease statistic boiled down to a doubling of odds that were tiny to begin with! "The public needs access to independent expert opinion that can counterbalance the enormous influence that the medical industry wields over our beliefs about the best approach to health and medical care," writes Dr. Abramson. Indeed, Dr. Abramson clearly suggests that a regimen that has been promoted forever is still the best means by which to keep heart disease. Dr. Abramson promotes that regular exercise, smoking cessation, and a healthy diet accomplish more than just about every medical