NYTimes article about surgeons financial ties to ADR devices

[Don]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/bu...tml?ref=health


Dirtbags is the first word that comes to mind.

Wouldn't it be nice to at least be able to trust the data from clinical trials? Manipulating results by excluding some people is the worst of all IMO. We all know there is risk, but we need to be able to make an educated assessment of that risk by having access to trustworthy data.

My apologies if this article has been posted elsewhere already.

Don

[Don]

Not to mention that this is why insurance companies, the FDA, and surgeons are so slow to engage new technologies.

[Terry]

Nice research Don . Some famous surgeons listed in this article also. People like Dr. Zigler from Texas Back Institute who gets mostly glowing reports from people here.

I see an amazing lack of ethics or questionably ethical lapses going on in health care today. It's truly amazing and flies in the face of the number one oath; "Above all, do no harm".

Terry Newton

[Linda]

Thanks Don for the research find. Interesting reading. Dr. Ziglar is definitely not my favorite guy! He treated me very unprofessionally.
Linda

[annapurna]

Before everyone forgets, many of the anti-ADR docs also have financial interests in seeing ADR killed and several of the pro-Maverick docs had reasons to see all ADRs other than Maverick killed. It's like politics, you can find someone with dirty hands no matter what side of the argument you're checking.

[LBP]

Anyone recognize Dr. Deyo!?!?!? He's the joker that began the fight to ban ADR with Medicare entirely. Not surprising this joker is quoted in the article ready to bash ADR.

He's got heavy bias of his own...and is not an orthopaedic surgeon!

Dr. Rosen rings a bell too.. just can't place him off the top of my head

[kimmers]

The article is biased.
There are a lot of bashers of ADR--i guess too much money at stake. The reporter should have done a better job with the story-IMO.

[annapurna]

Originally posted by LBP:
Dr. Rosen rings a bell too.. just can't place him off the top of my head

Rosen has been against ADR for a while. There was also an article of his that was debated here that suggested the ADR concept was flawed because the center of rotation of the spine was moved too far forward with all of the ADR styles.

[Don]

Originally posted by kimmers:
The article is biased.
There are a lot of bashers of ADR--i guess too much money at stake. The reporter should have done a better job with the story-IMO.

I agree that the reporter should have done a better job. Most reporters jump on the story of someone whol used something and got hurt. It's tragic, and makes headlines. A good reporter would've commented on the good outcomes as well as the bad and compared the results to fusion. But, the idea of doctors taking money from and investing in the companies whos devices they are testing is not acceptable. I agree that unless the doctor actually helped discover the device, they should not be allowed to have a financial interest in the outcome and should not be able to exclude any results.

Don

[Harrison]

I just read an interesting reply ot the NYT article from the folks at Healthpoint Capital (a financier of device companies!); see it here.