Category archive: Medical ethics

Burzynski Clinic in the Observer: PCC response

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

Adam

Adam set up Dianthus Medical in 1999. He is an experienced medical writer and statistician, has a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in medical statistics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

and filed under Dreadful science reporting in the media Medical ethics Pseudoscience 5 Comments

You may remember that last month I blogged about a hideously irresponsible article in the Observer. To refresh your memory, I said I’d reported them to the Press Complaints Commission and that I’d let you know of any developments. Well, I now have a development to report. The PCC have considered my complaint, and have ruled that the Observer article, while it was indeed misleading, did not breach the code, because it was somebody’s opinion rather than a factual article. … Continue reading →

Legal remedies for ghostwriting

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

Adam

and filed under Medical ethics Medical writing Publications 8 Comments

Everyone agrees that ghostwriting in the medical literature is a bad thing. The question is what can be done to eradicate it. Professional medical writers’ organisations such as EMWA, AMWA, and ISMPP have done their bit by publishing guidelines and position statements and educating their members about ethical publication practices, and there is some evidence that those efforts are pushing things in the right direction, but it’s clear that they are not going to solve the problem by themselves and … Continue reading →

The JBI saga continues

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

Adam

and filed under Medical ethics Publications 2 Comments

Regular readers of this blog will recall my writing about a deeply unpleasant episode in which the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry wrote some unfounded allegations about unethical behaviour by Dianthus Medical, which, after extensive correspondence, they refused to correct. I first wrote about it here, and linked briefly here to a much more detailed account written by my friend Karen Shashok and published on the EMWA website. The chairman of the editorial board of the journal, Paul Komesaroff, has now … Continue reading →

The Burzynski Clinic part 2

Posted on December 5, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Dreadful science reporting in the media Medical ethics 5 Comments

A few years ago, a man called Bernie Madoff was running an investment company. You’ve probably heard of him. He was offering wonderful rates of return on investments, far in excess of what any other investment companies were offering. Of course, the rates of return he was offering couldn’t really be delivered. The whole thing was a scam. Eventually, the FBI came and arrested him and put a stop to his little schemes. You might argue that the FBI therefore … Continue reading →

Making NHS health records available to private companies

Posted on December 5, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Dreadful science reporting in the media Medical ethics Leave a comment

There has been a flurry of activity in the media in recent hours about a proposed plan to make anonymised NHS health records available to private companies. I am completely and utterly baffled by this. It is being presented as if it is something new. It isn’t. The General Practice Research Database (GPRD) already contains vast amounts of anonymised data from NHS patients, and can be made available to private companies who are prepared to pay the appropriate fee. This … Continue reading →

The Burzynski Clinic

Posted on November 25, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Clinical research Dreadful science reporting in the media Medical ethics Pseudoscience 7 Comments

I have seen a number of very sad stories over the last few months that all have something in common. The most recent was printed in the Observer last Sunday. It is an utterly heart-rending story of a little girl who is dying of brain cancer. It is hard to imagine anything more terrible for any parents to have to face. It is understandable that when you find yourself in that situation, you will be prepared to clutch at straws. … Continue reading →

Journal of Bioethical Inquiry and editorial accountability

Posted on November 21, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Medical ethics Medical writing Leave a comment

I wrote back in June about my unpleasant experience of finding some false and defamatory allegations about Dianthus Medical printed in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, and how I was unable to persuade the journal to publish a correction, even though the authors of the article subsequently admitted that they had no evidence to support their allegations. My friend Karen Shashok has recently written a very detailed account of the episode, and draws some wider conclusions about editorial accountability in … Continue reading →

The medical ethics of an 80 mph speed limit

Posted on September 30, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Medical ethics 3 Comments

Can you put a price on a human life? The instinctive answer of many people to that question is “no”, but most health economists would say that not only can you put a price on a human life, you absolutely need to do so. Certainly when running a health service, the only rational way to decide whether interventions make economic sense is to do exactly that. Health Technology Assessments from NICE use the principle of valuing a human life when … Continue reading →

Strategic MedComms Forum 2011 part 1: marketing and data sharing

Posted on September 22, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Medical ethics Medical writing Publications Leave a comment

Last week, I spent a fascinating day at the Strategic MedComms Forum 2011. This event, subtitled “Trust and Transparency – Myth and Reality” and expertly organised by Peter Llewellyn of Network Pharma brought together a range of people working in medical communications for the pharma industry, as well as others with an interest in the field, to discuss the issues of trust and transparency in the way that the pharma industry communicates with the wider world. The day was split … Continue reading →

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

Posted on June 17, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Medical ethics Medical writing Publications 1 Comment

I have waited a long time to write this blog. Since early in 2010, to be precise. In January 2010, a paper was published in a peer-reviewed journal that made some outrageous, untrue, and defamatory remarks about Dianthus Medical. I have not blogged about it before, because such things are better dealt with in private. This is particularly true if legal action is pending, although in the end, despite the fact that the journal refused to correct the untrue statements … Continue reading →