There is a tendency in western medicine to have a reductionist approach. Everything can be reduced to a single cause, or at least a predominant one. In turn this approach lends itself to a single treatment – usually a pharmaceutical agent. This is a variation of the...
The opioid crisis in the USA has entered the next phase. Purdue Pharmaceuticals, which manufactured OxyContin is looking towards Chapter 11 bankruptcy. An Oklahoma court found Johnson and Johnson had intentionally played down the dangers and oversold the benefits of...
There is a fantastic quote by Mark Twain which says “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail”. To the medical profession, every problem can look like a medical one having a medical solution. Issues may require medical involvement without being medical...
Much is made of the evidence base of modern medicine. It is certainly the case that many trials are done and that to bring a pharmaceutical to market requires trial evidence to show that the drug is better than placebo and that side effects are acceptable. There is...
It was in April 2013 when I made the link between my son’s suicide attempt at five years of age and his use of the widely prescribed asthma and allergy medication Singulair (active ingredient Montelukast). The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) had...
There is increasing interest in the over use of medical tests, medications and procedures. There has been a belief that more medicine equals better health. In reality it does not. Whilst we absolutely can and do benefit from the advances medicine has made, too much of...
