Suddenly Sick
Seattle Times
Susan Kelleher & Duff Wilson

Did you walk into your doctor's office this year for your annual checkup, feeling really good, knowing that this exam would please your doctor, only to hear you need to be taking a new drug? Were you confused when you remembered your last exam showed the same results, only last time your doctor did not prescribe a drug? So what is the difference?

Well the difference is the standards your doctor used this time are different than the last time. The thresholds have changed. Now you are suddenly sick just like 40% of all Americans because the definitions of diseases changed.

How can that be?

Who makes up these criteria of when you qualify for an additional drug. You can have three guesses. Let me give you a hint, it has something to do with the same people that manufacture the drugs being prescribed. You know the same companies that advertise on TV telling you to ask your doctor if you shouldn't be taking the purple pill.

But it is worse than that. Many of the other third parties that promote, endorse or recommend drugs take money from the, you guessed it, drug companies. In fact this is so widespread it is unbelievable. Every hear, take an aspirin a day to keep from having a heart attack? This media campaign fattened up Bayer's bottomline. (Not everyone should be taking an aspirin a day. The side affects of doing so for a healthy person could be worse than the odds of it helping a heart attack.(1))

Some of the third party non-profits research companies are funded 100% by the drug companies. These research companies publish reports for the media and medical community. These reports influence what you hear and what your doctor knows about drugs and when to prescribe them.

A lot of people that are healthy now think they aren't. They are being told by the media & their doctors they should be taking a drug. Often the side effects of the drugs are far worse than any possible reasons for taking them in the first place. Many of these aliments are made up diseases. Create a drug then come up with a disease to treat with it. And the drug companies cannot do this alone. It takes the cooperation of your doctor.

How wide spread is this?

In 2005, Susan Kelleher and Duff Wilson published an article called "Suddenly Sick" in their newspaper, the Seattle Times. They interviewed more than 160 doctors, patients, medical analysts, regulatory officials among others in Europe, Canada and the US. And they reviewed thousands of pages of medical journals, government transcripts, and records. Their conclusions will surprise you.

You need to read this report. It is all about how big pharmaceutical companies influence what your doctor tells you. Below is a link to the web page The Seattle Times web page for this particular article. If you are taking a drug or drugs, or concerned about your long term health and whether you are getting a truly unbiased opinion from your doctor, you must read this.

Footnotes:

(1) SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT ASPIRIN A DAY TO PREVENT HEART ATTACKS - Center for Medical Consumers
Daily aspirin therapy- Is an aspirin a day the right thing for you? It's not as easy a decision as it sounds. Know the benefits and risks first. - Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER)

Links