Placebo Gazette #150 (Keeping Our Finger On The Prostate Of Medicine)
5/5/10
Happy Birthday To "The Pill"
Rabbit Season, Stem Cell Season
Placebo Television - The Missing Episode
Primary Care Docs Inundated With Emails
Separation of Parties by Ted Bacharach MD (retired)
Priligy To The Rescue
Placebo Journal Update
Pretty Docs
Fatter Than We Think
1. Happy Birthday To "The Pill"
On May 9th the birth control pill turns 50. What a controversial ride it had in the beginning. It also gave a lot of power to the FDA. All in all, though, it really has been an incredible medication and it changed our society in many ways; most of which, I believe, for the better. then again, I am just a man and what do i know.
Some European practitioners are peddling unproven and potentially dangerous stem cell therapy and experts are warning that it is not only illegal but dangerous. Fetal Cell Technologies International (FTCI) is offering "free seminars" on how injecting rabbit fetal stem cells can be effective in treating such conditions as diverse as autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy and aging. The owner of the company, a Mr. E. J. Fudd, responded to these criticisms with the following statement: "I don't know what the big fweaking deal is. We have a wicence to do this. It's not like we are using ewephants. Besides, am I the only one that hates wabbits?"
Here is the placebo television episode that we had to remove due to its controversial nature. well, we thought it was time to bring it back. here's to PSA tests and masturbation!
In a nice piece by my friend Rita Rubin at USA Today, details are given about how one internist counted how many patient visits, phone calls and e-mails he and his four associates handled in a year. It's not pretty. They found that each handled an average of 20 phone calls and 17 e-mails a day. Oh, for those that are not in the know, doctors don't get paid for these services. I have to be convinced e-mail is a good idea even if we were paid. Here are the reasons I am against telemedicine:
It is not the best medicine because no examination is involved.
It is high risk for a lawsuit as everything is documented and one little nuance or detail could have been overlooked by the doctor. this is sure to be pounced upon by a lawyer.
If it is cheaper than the doctor's visit (or free) then patients will rely on it or abuse it.
Too many misunderstandings happen via email due to misperception or tone, etc. for example, was he angry at me for asking that question?
If a patient doesn't like what the doctor said he or she could use it to complain to the doctor's employer or the state board of medicine. all it takes is a forward button.
It takes away from the art of medicine because there is no face to face contact.
5. Separation of Parties by Ted Bacharach MD (retired)
The increasing inability to have bipartisan discourse leads me to believe that perhaps the time has come to provide our legislators with four bathrooms, one each for male and female republican and a similar setup for democrats. The path being followed by our present legislators suggests that we do not have mature members in our legislative bodies. Possibly even a playpen should be provided.
A new drug is being launched in the UK to help with premature ejaculation. The Priligy pill is supposed to be taken 1-3 hours before "relations" with the results indicating that the some men last around 3 times longer than without it. Call me crazy but going from 9 to 27 seconds is nothing to sneeze at. Well, at almost $40 a pill, maybe those extra seconds aren't really worth that much. Back to the SSRIs, I guess.
