Book trailer: Kate Ledger's Remedies

THE weight-loss solution of the century

Dr. Steve Brule from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! on Comedy Central proposes an amazingly American weight-loss solution in this short clip. To see the clip, click here.

What have gastroenterologists been doing all these years? Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?!

Calling All Shoppers...

Your cash register receipts might be toxic to more than just your bank account. Check it out at The Patch.

Body Worlds returns

But without the sex.  Read more in The Vancouver Sun.

Driven from discovering

Alice Dreger writes about the suicide of Dan Markingson in a clinical trial at the U in the Bioethics Forum.  Read it here,

Never let me go

Lawyers, drugs and money

Mischke on the death of Dan Markingson. Read it here.

The Minnesota Daily on the death of Dan Markingson

"Mary Weiss says she wasn’t surprised when her lawyer called notifying her that the University of Minnesota was seeking about $57,000 in legal fees. It had already put her through enough after her son, Dan Markingson, 26, stabbed himself to death while enrolled in a clinical trial for an anti-psychotic medication here in 2004, a trial she didn’t want him in."  Read more on the Daily editorial page.

$272 Can Only Go So Far

A recent article in Salon.com talks about "Pink Kisses," a website for women who seek post-breakup "counseling." According to the article, "For $272, you can receive a 'super goddess action plan,' a bouquet of flowers, two life coaching sessions, 'better than sex' truffles and two weeks of 'you-go-girl' text messages (e.g.,"You're a lady deserving of an enchanted existence" and "Supergirl, you can move mountains"). You also have the option of uploading a photo of your ex's face and watching "his picture burn with our awesome virtual flames" and creating your very own inspirational poster. These clichés also come in smaller, more affordable packages." Check out the article here. Also the (very pink) Pink Kisses site.

White Coat, Black Hat

The unauthorized website is here.  Don't visit it; you'll just encourage him.

The Mild Torture Economy

Scott McLemee reviews Roberto Abadie's new book, The Professional Guinea Pig, in Inside Higher Ed.

Stunning news (yawn) on Meridia

News flash: a diet pill is linked to strokes and heart disease.  (Again.)  Should Meridia be recalled?  Read about it here.

Medicating Children with Antipsychotics

JAMA editor is leaving

Remember when the editor of JAMA called Jonathan Leo "a nothing and a nobody" for criticizing the JAMA conflict-of-interest policy?  Dr. Catherine DeAngelis is leaving her post as JAMA editor-in-chief.  Read about it in Pharmalot or the WSJ Health Blog. 

Depressed toddlers?

From BNET Pharma: "The New York Times Magazine crowned Dr. Joan Luby as the queen of preschool depression this weekend, but failed to mention that Luby has taken cash from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Shire (SHPGY) and AstraZeneca (AZN) to study using atypical antipsychotics in young children."

Read it here. 

Pura Vida, Señor Limbaugh

I spent the last few weeks in Costa Rica and one of the things that I learned was that the people there were quite flattered to learn that talk show host Rush Limbaugh has put their nation at the top of his list for medical care. It'll surely be a nice revenue boost for them, as Limbaugh's health hasn't been the very best in recent years. It is interesting (and ironic too), considering that Costa Rica's health system is government-run and everyone is guaranteed medical services, which clearly clashes with his position on "ObamaCare" in the States. The Costa Rica News recently covered this revelation. Check it out here.

Ahh, well, as they say over there, Pura Vida!

Kevin MD on White Coat, Black Hat

An excerpt from White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine, appears on the KevinMD.com blog.  Read it here.

CAFE study author replies

Jeffrey Lieberman, the principal investigator for the CAFE study in which Dan Markingson died, defends the questionable dosing choices in the study on the Carlat Psychiatry Blog.  See Carlat's summary, plus comments by Dr. Bernard Carroll and me, here.

Even Toddlers Get The Blues

Researchers are currently investigating early-onset depression (and I mean really early onset) amongst preschool-aged children. What does preschool depression sound like? A young child named Kiran, when brought to Disney World, stated: “Mickey lies. Dreams don’t come true." Read more about diagnosing depression in preschoolers in this upcoming Sunday's New York Times Magazine. The online article is available here.

(Illustration taken from the article mentioned above.)

"Making a Killing" in Mother Jones

Dr. Bernard Carroll has coined the term "experimercial" for clinical studies that a company has designed not for scientific purposes, but to create positive publicity for a product in a particular market niche.  What happens when subjects die in these studies?  Nothing. 

My article on the death of Dan Markingson in a Seroquel experimercial appears in the September issue of Mother Jones.  You can read the article online here.

Addendum: additional posts on this at the NY Times "Prescriptions" Blog, MinnPost, Psychology Today, Pharmalot, and the Carlat Psychiatry Blog.