tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-95511502024-03-19T05:26:22.114-04:00Health Care RenewalAddressing threats to health care's core values, especially those stemming from concentration and abuse of power - and now larger threats to the democracy needed to advance health and welfare. Advocating for accountability, integrity, transparency, honesty and ethics in leadership and governance of health care.Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.comBlogger3586125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-24193175296052015542023-07-29T14:13:00.000-04:002023-07-29T14:13:07.456-04:00Trump's Higher Impunity Revisited Introduction - the New York Times Notes Trump's History of Impunity In today's New York Times, and article entitled "New Trump Charges Highlight Long-Running Questions About Obstruction" touched on former President Donald Trump's long history of gamesmanship on his part with prosecutors, regulators
and others who have the ability to impose penalties on his conduct.in the context of the recent Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-66821102163538562782023-06-08T14:57:00.002-04:002023-06-08T14:57:43.684-04:00Threats to Democracy Round Up - Selected Topics, Early June, 2023 Influence of Hostile Foreign PowersThink about the implications of having hostile, authoritarian foreign powers trying to disrupt democracy by means overt and covert. Think about the accumulating evidence that this has been and is happening.Also, see our discussion last month about the importance of this topic.Trump/Russia Alignment[No collusion? - How many who helped Trump will turn out toRoy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-1882017878615762362023-05-24T13:00:00.002-04:002023-05-24T13:00:52.538-04:00Threats to Democracy Round Up - Selected Topics, Late May, 2023Influence of Hostile Foreign PowersWe have previously posted lots of words about the anechoic effect: the lack of echoes produced by seemingly important stories about health care dysfunction. It seemed as if such stories were taboo, presumably because even discussing them was seen as a threat to the rich and powerful who increasingly run health care. Those involved in the leadership
Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-8320903847004899652023-05-10T12:06:00.000-04:002023-05-10T12:06:13.675-04:00Threats to Democracy Round Up - Early May, 2023Influence of Hostile Foreign PowersReminders of how the US home-grown anti-democratic movement has been egged on by hostile foreign powers, chiefly Russia:- How tied to Russia much of the far-right in the US now are: "the most energetic Kremlin propagandist around today" tells Tucker Carlson "We'll happily offer you a job if you wish to carry on as a presenter and host!"https://Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-38140389513925293292023-05-04T12:21:00.001-04:002023-05-04T12:21:57.747-04:00Who Cares If Hunter Biden Owns a Laptop? Red Herrings and Reflexive Control Introduction: Propaganda and Disinformation in Health Care and Elsewhere We used to write about propaganda and disinformation used to promote health care goods and services (stealth marketing
campaigns), and advocate for policies favorable to private health care
organizations (stealth health policy advocacy and stealth lobbying). Some stealth marketing, lobbying and
policy Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-77386043193380185512023-04-24T12:45:00.002-04:002023-04-24T12:45:31.387-04:00Threats to Democracy Round Up Influence of hostile foreign powers[Like the late 1930s or peak of the cold war] Russian spy network operating in North Sea- spy ships disguised as fishing vessels to monitor potential sabotage targets[Feels so much like the 1930s or depths of the cold war] Russian ‘ghost ships’ mapping wind farms [near the UK] in sabotage plotRussian propaganda, disinformation, and related active Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-82218547567279425742023-04-24T11:50:00.001-04:002023-04-24T14:15:01.866-04:00Introducing the Threats to Democracy Roundups We started Health Care Renewal in 2004 to address the worsening dysfunction in health care, primarily in the US. We were aboutAddressing threats to health care's core values, especially those
stemming from concentration and abuse of power. Advocating for
accountability, integrity, transparency, honesty and ethics in
leadership and governance of health care.But starting in 2015, Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-26501964996574668082023-04-11T11:33:00.000-04:002023-04-11T11:33:04.573-04:00In Memoriam: Ahnold, Our Faithful Watchdog Mascot RIP, April 10, 2023Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-14716398521384136142022-08-18T12:25:00.005-04:002022-08-18T12:25:34.591-04:00Haunted by the Impunity of Rich Business Leaders - Will One Criminal Conviction make a Difference? The Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Pleads Guilty Impunity: an Introduction
We believe that unaccountable leadership is a major cause of health care dysfunction. Impunity is an extreme form of unaccountable leadership.
We have noted that despite numerous legal settlements made by health care organizations of allegations like fraud, bribery, and kickbacks,
almost never do top leaders who presided over these actions face any
Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-13593598089113525592022-01-09T14:33:00.000-05:002022-01-09T14:33:01.271-05:00The New Business Coup? Increasing Evidence that Large Health Care Corporations are Funding Threats to DemocracyIntroduction: Health Care Corporations' Political Contributions: From Bipartisan to Trumpian At one time, leadership of large health corporations were circumspect
in their financial support for US politicians and political causes.
They provided some funds directly to politicians and political
organizations, but often amounts given to different parties and
organizations with different Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-71822080389659402102021-12-24T17:47:00.005-05:002021-12-27T12:16:10.325-05:00Guest Blog: Susan Levenstein, MD, on the Omicron VariantTo encourage wider dissemination, we're pleased to provide here an author-abridged and -authorized version of a recent number of the Stethoscope on Rome blog by Susan Levenstein, MD. A long time resident of and practicing internist in Rome, she has been interviewed in many countries both in the US and in Europe. She here dissects the latest news, as of four days ago, on the Covid-19 Cetonahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338429179241447924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-39253887883088314232021-12-04T14:29:00.000-05:002021-12-04T14:29:56.549-05:00The Irresponsibility of Political Leaders Encouraging Vaccine Resistance by Health Care Professionals: One Small Response to a Local Example[Below is the text of a letter to the editor I wrote to the Providence Journal about one state legislator who praised the "joyful" resistance of health care professionals to vaccination. It was published today, December 4, 2021, but appears to be unavailable on the internet. I believe that it applies to many other similarly irresponsible, reckless political leaders throughout the US.]Dear Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-84675302769384458282021-11-23T16:37:00.001-05:002021-11-23T16:38:49.195-05:00The New New Abnormal: What Should We Do in a World Becoming Increasingly Irrational?We Health Care Renewal (http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com)
bloggers once again apologize for our chronic lack of posting on the
blog. However, we
remain perplexed about what contribution to make on now an old-school,
long-form web-based publication. Our oft-stated, somewhat nuanced concerns
about aspects of health care dysfunction (see: What the US "Health Care Reform" Debate Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-69782850502171396842021-10-19T09:49:00.017-04:002021-10-19T11:14:51.717-04:00On the primacy of the physician-patient relationship, from an unlikely source - the Attorney General of NebraskaI have not written much at this site, or any site, in recent years due to being kept busy supporting litigation regarding bad healthcare information technology as an expert witness.A recent letter, however, so caught my eye regarding both current events and my past writing about bad health IT, that I decided to write about it.It is perhaps a poignant reminder of the craziness of the times in InformaticsMDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03994321680366572701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-44591965802252272672021-09-07T13:40:00.003-04:002021-09-07T13:40:35.352-04:00More Large Health Care Corporations Are Again Funding Politicians Who Threatened Representative Democratic GovernanceIntroduction: Health Care Corporations' Political Contributions: From Bipartisan to Trumpian At one time, leadership of large health corporations were circumspect
in their financial support for US politicians and political causes.
They provided some funds directly to politicians and political
organizations, but often amounts given to different parties and
organizations with different Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-67892373850331987082021-07-23T16:11:00.000-04:002021-07-23T16:11:36.651-04:00Money and Aducanumab
In my previous posts, I haven't talked too much about the price set for aducanumab. Since I think it should not have been approved on current evidence regardless of price, the approval has been my focus. But of course the price is an issue, especially given that there is a HUGE pool of potential patients and that most are probably Medicare age, meaning that this drug can have huge impacts on APeticolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06457233140176401084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-66048398550268788972021-07-08T15:07:00.000-04:002021-07-08T15:07:25.121-04:00The Future of Aducanumab - as a Medicine and as a Financial Product - What Happens Now?To recap: the FDA recently (and foolishly) approved Biogen's monoclonal antibody aducanumab as a treatment for Alzheimer's. It did this on the basis of a surrogate endpoint, amyloid plaque reduction, even though, in NUMEROUS trials, that has not been associated with clinical improvement. The company is claiming that there IS clinical improvement based on high-dose patients in one of two clinical APeticolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06457233140176401084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-83413388661412708842021-07-07T14:11:00.003-04:002021-07-07T14:11:58.350-04:00Leadership of Big Health Care Corporations Go Back to Financially Supporting the Opponents of Democratic GovernanceAt one time, leadership of large health corporations were circumspect in their financial support for US politicians and political causes. They provided some funds directly to politicians and poltical organizations, but often amounts given to different parties and organizations with different ideologies were balanced. Presumably, the goal was to promote access to whomever was in power at any Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-30518107667641003272021-06-30T21:20:00.001-04:002021-07-01T15:50:24.980-04:00Aducanumab Approval, Part 2So how did a drug with such dubious benefit get approved? At best, another clinical trial might be warranted, but certainly not approval. It's a result of a huge campaign by a company (Biogen) that would not accept the failure of its drug and of pressure from patient organizations like the Alzheimer's Association (which receives major money from pharma, including Biogen and its Japanese partner, APeticolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06457233140176401084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-85013566305622380462021-06-29T19:54:00.002-04:002021-07-01T15:47:36.301-04:00FDA Approval of Aducanumab Almost twenty years ago, I was a volunteer nursing-home ombudsman. The doctor at the nursing home I visited was a huge proponent of preventive therapies, and prescribed as many preventive drugs as possible for residents (while frequently ignoring complaints about current medical problems that were bothering them). Among the drugs he very freely prescribed were cholinesterase inhibitors for APeticolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06457233140176401084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-54598884931716970472021-05-26T14:33:00.000-04:002021-05-26T14:33:17.061-04:00The Plot Thickens - How Corrupt was the Trump Administration Under Which Health Care (and the Rest of the US) Operated from 2017 - 2021?This week, reports appeared that former US President Donald Trump, the Trump Organization of which he is the principal owner, and other people connected to the Trump Organization are the subjects of a special grand jury investigation going on in New York City. As the Washington Post reported, Manhattan's district attorney has convened the grand jury that is
expected to decide whether Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-65420601797294526262021-05-02T14:36:00.001-04:002021-05-03T14:49:55.895-04:00Guest Post: Advocating Restoring the Leadership of Hospitals by Medical Professionals, Thus Reversing the Managers' Coup D'Etat Health Care Renewal presents a guest post by Dr. Gene Dorio. Dr Dorio is a geriatric physician from the Santa Clarita Valley in California, providing house calls to older adults. He has been an advocate and whistleblower for his community leading several causes from attempting to preserve the hospital Transitional Care Unit for seniors in 2006, to today trying to allow Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-72257246364019200812021-04-22T10:49:00.019-04:002021-12-07T16:54:57.934-05:00Disinformation: a Medical Meditation. Dander At Half Mast.Are there no foes for me to face?Must I not stem the flood?Verse 3, Isaac Watts (1674-1748),"Am I Not a Soldier of the Cross?"IntroductionIn what follows I expand on our ongoing series—most recently appearing here—on the crisis of fair and accurate information in science and medicine. I divide this meditation into four sections—"meditation" used to excuse a certain amount of meandering, Cetonahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03338429179241447924noreply@blogger.com0Indian Ocean-33.137551 81.826172-61.447784836178847 46.669922 -4.8273171638211565 116.982422tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-83548053963134736952021-04-04T16:56:00.002-04:002021-04-04T16:56:44.455-04:00A Few Leaders of Big Health Care Corporations Hesitate in Their Support of Extreme Politics and Insurrection, But Will Anything Really Change? Some recent but not well publicized articles suggests how big health care corporations are still enabling some of the worst aspects of health care and larger political economic dysfunction.Introduction - Health Care Corporate Political Donations Become More Partisan and IdeologicalA long time ago in a galaxy far, far away big health care corporations in the US had an apparently Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9551150.post-68244956811294708722021-03-07T14:30:00.001-05:002021-03-07T14:30:06.234-05:00Political Leaders Continue to Spread Disinformation and Advocate Policies and Take Actions Based on It The coronavirus pandemic in the US seems past its third peak, but daily case rates have now plateaued at a level similar to the last peak. While hospitals and health care professionals are not totally overwhelmed, they are working extremely hard and continuing to burn out. People are still getting sick, some seriously, chronically, or fatally. With the continuing rapid spread of the Roy M. Poses MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497209843184497847noreply@blogger.com0