Kickbacks are being wiped out by one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies

December 30, 2015

By Sue Dunlevy

National Health Reporter

News Corp Australia Network

Payments to doctors to speak at medical conferences to end says drug company GSK.

EXCLUSIVE.

Doctors will no longer be paid to spruik medicines or have their overseas trips funded as the medical gravy train comes to an end at one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies.

From January 1, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will stop direct payments to doctors to speak at medical conferences about its prescription medicines and vaccines.

SEE FULL STORY:

http://www.news.com.au/national/kickbacks-are-being-wiped-out-by-one-of-the-worlds-biggest-pharmaceutical-companies/news-story/36c96609755c6e0d2b162b5b7abc4a6e

BOSTON MA, USA:  The pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been fined $3bn (£1.9bn) after admitting bribing doctors and encouraging the prescription of unsuitable antidepressants to children. Glaxo is also expected to admit failing to report safety problems with the diabetes drug Avandia in a district court in Boston on Thursday.

The company encouraged sales reps in the US to mis-sell three drugs to doctors and lavished hospitality and kickbacks on those who agreed to write extra prescriptions, including trips to resorts in Bermuda, Jamaica and California.

The company admitted corporate misconduct over the antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin and asthma drug Advair.

Psychiatrists and their partners were flown to five-star hotels, on all-expenses-paid trips where speakers, paid up to $2,500 to attend, gave presentations on the drugs. They could enjoy diving, golf, fishing and other extra activities arranged by the company.

GSK also paid for articles on its drugs to appear in medical journals and “independent” doctors were hired by the company to promote the treatments, according to court documents.

Paxil – which was only approved for adults – was promoted as suitable for children and teenagers by the company despite trials that showed it was ineffective, according to prosecutors.

Children and teenagers are only treated with antidepressants in exceptional circumstances due to an increased risk of suicide.

GSK held eight lavish three-day events in 2000 and 2001 at hotels in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Palm Springs, California, to promote the drug to doctors for unapproved use.

READ MORE OF BIG PHARMA AND DOCTORS’ CORRUPTION:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jul/03/glaxosmithkline-fined-bribing-doctors-pharmaceuticals#_=_

Breast implants and 23 other surgical devices made by Brazilian manufacturer “Silimed” have been suspended from use in Australia because of contamination fears.

After a European regulatory inspection of the Brazilian factory found the surfaces of some devices were contaminated.  This led to the devices being suspended in Europe and the UK earlier this week.

Thousands of the products are sold in Australia by the sponsor, Device Technologies.  The TGA said it was urgently investigating to determine what action is required in Australia.

Take them off the market would be a start!

24 September 2015

NEW SOUTH WALES:  A Sydney surgeon at the centre of multiple complaints from patients and other doctors, has been allowed to continue practising medicine in New South Wales under “strict supervision”.  What a farce that is!

Dr Paramalingam LINGATHAS has been found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct (according to the medical profession’s standards, not the general public’s) by the Professional Standards Committee and reprimanded “in the strongest possible terms” in a decision this week.

Strongest possible terms?  Hello!  What happened to being struck off?

Dr LINGATHAS operated at Campbelltown Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Balmain, Liverpool and Auburn hospitals.

Protect yourself, for the Medical Council’s Professional Standards Committee won’t.  If you encounter this malpractising medico, RUN.

SYDNEY:  A man who suffered a stroke in a lavatory in Royal North Shore Hospital, one of Sydney’s busiest hospitals, was not found by staff until the next day.

Officials at RNSH have confirmed that the man, 67, was found by a cleaner in a public toilet in its Outpatients’ Department.  He had gone unnoticed by staff for 21 hours.

On Wednesday the 67-year-old North Shore man was in a critical condition in the same hospital with his family by his bedside.

An urgent inquiry has been ordered into how the man, who arrived at the hospital for a medical appointment at 0930 on Monday 10 August 2015, ended up not being noticed by staff.

When he did not return home from the appointment his concerned wife called the hospital, Channel 9 reported last night.  She was told by staff that her husband had not turned up for the scheduled appointment and they had no idea of his whereabouts.

At 0630 on Tuesday, 11 August, a cleaner found the unconscious man in the Outpatients public lavatory.

Left alone

Health Minister Jillian Skinner on Wednesday night said: This is a distressing case and I extend my sympathy to this gentleman and his family. The hospital immediately amended its end of day shutdown processes to include a review of public toilets in outpatient areas,” she said.

Andrew Montague, of RNS,H told Channel 9 that a review of CCTV footage shows the man arriving at RNSH on Monday morning.

“But we weren’t aware that he actually turned up to the Outpatients departments,” Dr Montague said.

When nurses close the department each day they only check the waiting and medical areas and not the lavatories.

“I’d describe it as something you’d never want to see, but we need to make sure we look after the gentleman now”.

In 2007 a woman, 14 weeks pregnant, miscarried in a public lavatory at RNSH, leading to a public inquiry into the public health system.

Lorraine Long, from the Medical Error Action Group, on Wednesday night said the hospital system is under staffed.

“The person was not at a bus terminal, the person was in a hospital,” she said.

SAD POSTCRIPT

The 67-year-old man died Friday, 14 August 2015, in the same hospital where he was neglected, after never regaining consciousness.

Here we go again —

SYDNEY:  TWELVE dentists in four Sydney practices are under investigation for hygiene breaches which have potentially exposed 12,000 people to blood-borne infection.

NSW Health says instruments in the practices “were not cleaned, sterilised or stored” in accordance with guidelines set by the Dental Board of Australia.

It’s recommending patients who have had an invasive procedure at the practices in the past 10 years be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, although it’s stressed the risk is low.

The affected practices are Dr Samson Sing CHAN of The Gentle Dentist clinics in Campsie and central Sydney, and Dr Robert STARKENBURG’s practices at Bondi Junction and Surry Hills.

Anyone who’s had “any procedure” at Dr Starkenburg’s practices – which have been closed – should be tested, NSW Health says.

The Dental Council of NSW says in a statement that it’s suspended the registration of Dr Samson Sing Chan, and four other dentists at his practices, with a further six dentists having conditions imposed on their registration.

Dr Starkenburg was suspended from practice last December, the council says.

The 12 dentists have been referred to the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission.

MEAG COMMENT:  Who is policing our medical professionals?  For self-regulation is still not working.

NEW SOUTH WALES:  HUNTER New England Health has paid out almost $50million in taxpayer funds over the past three years for medical mistakes ranging from emergency department failures to major obstetrics blunders.

Among eight multimillion-dollar payouts was an $11.2million settlement for obstetrics negligence made in the past financial year.  Another obstetrics and gynaecology case cost $8.4million while a pathology error cost $4.3million.

Documents obtained under the Government Information (Public Access) Act show 115 negligence claims were completed at an average cost of $431,282.

They cover areas including emergency medicine, nursing, obstetrics and gynaecology, orthopaedic surgery, neurology and plastic surgery.

The payments, made from Treasury-Managed Funds, reflect a growing trend among aggrieved patients who are choosing to sue when they experience an adverse outcome.

‘‘People are saying I don’t accept what you did and you need to be accountable. It’s not about the money,’’ Medical Error Action Group founder Lorraine Long said.

‘‘I don’t think people are more litigious, but I think they are more aware of their rights.’’

Specific case details could not be obtained, however, typical medical negligence claims relate to incorrect diagnosis, incorrect treatment and procedural and surgical errors.

Ms Long said many people who were forced to pursue their claim over a period of years became victims of secondary trauma.

‘‘It can take seven to eight years in some cases and they [doctors and health services] fight you tooth and nail and run up huge expenses in the process,’’ she said.

‘‘The compensation is really just reimbursement for the money they [the patients] have outlaid.’’

SOURCE:  Newcastle Herald, by Matthew Kelly, 31.05.2015

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/3115592/medical-errors-cost-taxpayers-50m/?cs=305

A QUEENSLAND judge has barred disgraced Bundaberg surgeon Jayant PATEL from practising medicine in Australia, highlighting his lack of integrity, honesty and trustworthiness.

Dr PATEL was today permanently banned from registration as a health professional in the country by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT).

The Medical Board of Australia (MBA) brought disciplinary action against him on nine grounds, including four related to false and misleading material being used in his 2003 registration application.

The remaining five grounds involved medical procedures – four which were performed despite a “clinically inappropriate increased level of risk to the patient”.

The tribunal found all nine grounds were warranted.

The MBA was not told that in 2000, US health authorities in Oregon had banned Dr PATEL from performing pancreatic and liver surgeries and forced him to obtain second opinions before complicated operations.

Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren said Dr PATEL appeared undeterred by his previous disciplinary experiences.

“These matters strike at the very heart of the system of registration by which it is intended that only those truly suitable and competent to do so are permitted to practise in health professions,” he said.

“One could have little, if any, confidence that he would ever in the future possess the qualities of integrity, honesty and trustworthiness so essential for the practice of medicine.”

Judge Horneman-Wren found Dr PATEL’s “apparently cavalier preparedness to disregard … the potential serious consequences of his fraud upon others” was troubling.

He noted that some of the surgeries, along with their “tragic consequences”, would not have eventuated if Dr PATEL sought second opinions.

The MBA said the orders will have far-reaching repercussions.

“This serious adverse finding will now be on the public record and accessible to all international medical regulators to whom Dr PATEL may apply for registration,” it said in a statement.

“The board persisted with disciplinary action to protect the public, manage risk to patients and uphold the high standards of medical profession the medical profession.”

Dr PATEL moved back to Oregon in 2013 after he was handed a two-year suspended sentence for fraudulently gaining employment in Queensland.

His criminal convictions for three counts of manslaughter and one of grievous bodily harm were overturned on appeal earlier that year.

Dr PATEL, ordered to pay the MBA’s legal costs, did not return to Australia to attend Friday’s hearing.

A doctor who was abused as a child by GP says system is skewed against victims.

The victim, now a doctor, tells royal commission he was shocked that paedophile doctor John ROLLESTON could continue practising medicine after sexual abuse came to light.

A senior doctor, who was sexually abused as a child by a GP, has said the profession’s response to complaints is grossly inadequate and skewed in favour of doctors.

The doctor was sexually molested by John ROLLESTON in the 1970s at a private practice in St Ives, Sydney.

The doctor, known by the pseudonym “AWF” at a royal commission hearing where he is giving evidence, said after reading of ROLLESTON’s arrest in 2011, he did further research.

AWF said he found out ROLLESTON had been prohibited by the NSW Medical Board in 2009 from providing any medical service to patients between 11 and 18 years of age.  The Board became the Medical Council of NSW in 2010.

AWF said when he was abused for a second time by ROLLESTON he was outside that age range set by the Board.

“I remember feeling shocked and angry that ROLLESTON was allowed to continue practising medicine,” he said.

He said on Thursday he was a patient of ROLLESTON from the ages of 13 to 20.

AWF had studied as an intern at the Royal North Shore Hospital in St Leonards, Sydney, and found that by then ROLLESTON was a senior doctor there.

He said he avoided him and did not raise the subject of child sexual abuse because he feared in those days it would “have more serious professional repercussions for me than for ROLLESTON”.

AWF said when he saw the limited restrictions the Medical Board had placed on ROLLESTON he was concerned he could continue abusing people.

The commission is hearing from seven people who were victims of ROLLESTON’s abuse at private practices in Sydney and at the Royal North Shore Hospital.

ROLLESTON was deregistered in 2013 – two years after he was jailed and can reapply to practise again after four years, i.e. 2017.

He is now 79, has been granted parole and is in poor health.

“For the habitual nature of the most serious of allegations against ROLLESTON, the conditions imposed by the NSW Medical Board and Medical Tribunal on his continual medical practice, were I believe, were grossly inadequate and not in the best interests of the complainants,” AWF told the commission.

He said they were skewed in favour of the doctor at the expense of the patient.

AWF said he would suggest a policy change where doctors deregistered for serious child sexual abuse should not be allowed re-apply for registration after four years.

AAP, Thursday 7 May 2015

Sydney

Disgraced former obstetrician and gynaecologist specialist doctor Graeme Stephen REEVES has been indicted for manslaughter after allegedly misdiagnosing a new mother, who later died from an infection.

The 65-year-old, who has previously been jailed for inflicting grievous bodily harm on patients and sexual assault, will apply for taxpayers to fund his defence through Legal Aid, again.

REEVES faces a manslaughter charge over the death of the late Mrs Kerry Ann McAllister, who was his patient when she gave birth to her son at The Hills Private Hospital (now known as Baulkham Hills Private Hospital), Baulkham Hills, an outer north-western suburb of Sydney, in 1996.

A Coroner’s Inquest heard Mrs McAllister died from septicaemia less than a week after the birth.  The septicaemia stemmed from an untreated post-partum bacterial infection.  Despite a rising temperature, it is alleged REEVES believed Mrs McAllister only had a virus.  Mrs McAllister was soon critically ill and was transferred to Westmead Hospital where she died despite efforts to save her with antibiotic treatment.

A representative from the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions said they would be ready to set a trial date at the next court appearance on 5 June 2015.