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Public Citizen’s Health Letter: 2000 – 2009

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2009

December 2009; Vol. 25, No. 12

  • What Happened in Health Care in 2009
  • The Price We Pay for Uninsurance
  • Analysis of USPSTF 2009 Revised Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: The Case of Neurontin: Skewed Research in the Service of Selling

November 2009; Vol. 25, No. 11

  • Health Reform: Where Will the Money Come From?
  • Product Recalls
  • Harvard Study Finds Nearly 45,000 Excess Deaths Annually Linked to Lack of Health Coverage
  • Outrage: AHIP’s Actuarial Acrobatics

October 2009; Vol. 25, No. 10

  • The Uninsured in the United States: What the Rise to 46.3 Million Means
  • Public Citizen Proposes Basic Patient Safety Reforms that Would Save 85,000 Lives and $35 Billion a Year
  • A Review of Homeopathy
  • Product Recalls
  • Health Debate or Health Charade?
  • Outrage: Drug Company Inducements to Doctors: Not Par for the Course

September 2009; Vol. 25, No. 9

  • Obama Administration Must Make Disciplinary Records of Nurses, Health Workers Available to Hospitals, Nursing Homes
  • Letter Urging Secretary Sebelius to Provide Hospitals and Nursing Homes Access to Names of Disciplined Nurses and Other Health Workers
  • A Call to Action: Why We Need Medical Resident Work Hour Reform
  • Product Recalls
  • Are We Now Twice as Sad? The Drug Industry and Doctors Think We Are!
  • Outrage: Ghostly Prescriptions

August 2009; Vol. 25, No. 8

  • Dr. Sidney Wolfe’s Testimony before Subcommittee on Health at Hearing on Health Insurance
  • Dr. Steffie Woolhandler’s Testimony before Health Subcommittee at Hearing on Health Insurance
  • Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post Regarding the Coverage of the Recent Congressional Hearing on Single-Payer
  • Ineffectual Medical Treatments Misleadingly Produce “Good” Results
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Medical Publisher Offers Bribes for Writing Favorable Book Reviews

July 2009; Vol. 25, No. 7

  • Q & A on the Current Health Debate: What Does a ‘Public Plan Option’ Mean and Why Does Public Citizen Oppose it?
  • Hospitals Drop the Ball on Physician Oversight
  • A Dictionary of Health Policy Terms, Part III
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Language Matters: Poor Communication Can Mean Poor Health Care

June 2009; Vol. 25, No. 6

  • Vermont’s Pharmaceutical Laws Move Toward Fuller Disclosure
  • What is Comparative Effectiveness Research, and Why is it Being Badmouthed?
  • Intro to Comparative Health Systems
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: A Coalition of the Scared

May 2009; Vol. 25, No. 5

  • Public Citizen’s Health Research Group Ranking of the Rate of State Medical Boards’ Serious Disciplinary Actions, 2006-2008
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Psychoprostitution

April 2009; Vol. 25, No. 4

  • Stretching the TARP to Cover Health Care
  • Bereavement: A Look at the Grieving Process and How to Cope with Loss
  • Product Recalls
  • How Much Is A Year of Your Life Worth?
  • WARNING: MRI Scans May Burn Patients Wearing Transdermal Drug Patches
  • Outrage: High Deductibles for Limited Eligibles

March 2009; Vol. 25, No. 3

  • Massachusetts’ Plan: A Failed Model for Health Care Reform
  • Product Recalls
  • Having Health Insurance Does Not Mean Having Health Care
  • Public Hospitals, Community Clinics Suffering Under Massachusetts Health Care Reform
  • Outrage: Ending the Insanity of Failed State Health Insurance Reforms

February 2009; Vol. 25, No. 2

  • Our Perfectly Designed U.S. Healthcare System
  • Public Citizen Endorses Single Payer National Health System, Joins Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care
  • U.S. Inmates Suffer from Chronic Illness and Poor Access to Health Care
  • Informed Consent and Shared Decision-Making
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: “Morning After” Contraception Too Difficult to Get

January 2009; Vol. 25, No. 1

  • Single Payer Health Care in Taiwan: Borrowing Ideas, Improving on Medicare
  • Health Letter Volume Index, 2008
  • Indulgence and Innovation in Medical Care
  • Product Recalls
  • Smokeless Tobacco: Rebranding Nicotine, Repackaging Death
  • Outrage: Full Body Scams: Not Your Source for Peace of Mind

2008

December 2008; Vol. 24, No. 12

  • In Case You Missed It: What Happened in Health in 2008
  • Calculating Your Risk of Death from Disease and Accidents
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Is the Uterus a Pre-Existing Condition?

November 2008; Vol. 24, No. 11

  • The Uninsured in the United States: What the Drop to 45.7 Million Means
  • Pharma Should Not Foot the Bill for Your Doctor’s Continuing Medical Education
  • Weighing Conscience Protection Against a Patient’s Right to Information
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Mongering Diseases to Hawk Pills: The Case of Fibromyalgia

October 2008; Vol. 24, No. 10

  • A Tale of Three Cities: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Premature Mortality in the District of Columbia, 2005
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Big Tobacco Targets College Students

September 2008; Vol. 24, No. 9

  • Long-Term Care Insurance: Perennial Questions, Updated Answers
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Athletic Prowess and the Doping of Consumers

August 2008; Vol. 24, No. 8

  • Unseen Payoffs and the Poverty of Prevention
  • Just How Does the U.S. Health Care System Stack Up?
  • Product Recalls
  • “Mistakes Were Made”: Disclosing Medical Errors
  • Outrage: Botox, Mark Spitz, Nadia Comenici and Willie Nelson

July 2008; Vol. 24, No. 7

  • What Are Presidential Candidates (And Their Advisors) Talking About? Part II
  • Macular Degeneration
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Why is Darvon (Darvocet/propoxyphene) Still Around, Hurting People?

June 2008; Vol. 24, No. 6

  • Drug Research: To Test or to Tout?
  • Backsliding on Childhood Immunizations
  • Public Citizen Urges Removal of Ortho-Evra Patch from Market
  • Product Recalls
  • Study Finds New Blood Substitutes Increase Risk of Death, Heart Attacks; Authors Question FDA’s Approval Process, Records Access
  • Outrage: Human Experimentation and Speedy For-Profit Ethical Review Board

May 2008; Vol. 24, No. 5

  • Health Policy Placebos
  • Physician Support for National Health Insurance on the Rise
  • Public Citizen’s Health Research Group Ranking of the Rate of State Medical Boards’ Serious Disciplinary Actions, 2005-2007
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: “Physician, Heal Thyself” Not Always Simple

April 2008; Vol. 24, No. 4

  • Medical Errors and State Reporting of Adverse Events
  • Public Citizen Testifies on Drug Safety Before Congress
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Unnecessary Medical Radiation: Children the Most Vulnerable

March 2008; Vol. 24, No. 3

  • Medical Records: Q&A
  • Public Citizen Launches Now Blog
  • Market-Based Failure: A Second Opinion on U.S. Health Care Costs
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Scarce Kidneys: Why U.S. Transplantation Policies Are Inherently Inequitable and How They Can Be Changed

February 2008; Vol. 24, No. 2

  • Lost in Translation: Why the Highly-Touted Dutch Health System Would Not Be a Good Idea for the U.S.
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Drug Industry Spends Almost Twice As Much on Promotion of Drugs As on Research

January 2008; Vol. 24, No. 1

  • Boundaries Without Barriers: Cross-Border Health in the European Union
  • Product Recalls
  • Health Letter Volume Index 2007 and Cumulative Index
  • Outrage: Pay for Performance: Incentives Gone Awry

2007

December 2007; Vol. 23, No. 12

View as PDF
  • What Happened in U.S. Health Care in 2007?
  • Update on Avandia
  • Product Recalls
  • MedWatch
  • Outrage: Illegal Kickbacks From Artificial Knee and Hip Manufacturers to Orthopedic Surgeons

November 2007; Vol. 23, No. 11

  • Rethinking Health Care for the Elderly
  • More Than A Prayer for Single Payer
  • Product Recalls
  • Another U.S. Go-It-Alone Policy
  • Outrage: “Reminder Ads”: Innuendo Minus Information

October 2007; Vol. 23, No. 10

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  • Equal Pay for Equal Work? Not For Medicaid Doctors
  • Hoodia: Another Weight Loss Scam
  • Product Recalls
  • Research as Public Relations
  • Outrage: Are Hospitals Making Us Sicker?

September 2007; Vol. 23, No. 9

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  • Improving Public Access to Clinical Trial Information
  • Scapegoating Immigrants
  • Product Recalls
  • The Latest Data on the Uninsured
  • Outrage: Manipulating the Hispanic Market: The Case of Viagra

August 2007; Vol. 23, No. 8

  • What Are The Presidential Candidates Talking About?: A Brief Dictionary of Health Policy Terms
  • Product Recalls
  • Now, Let the Victim Beware
  • Taming Technology
  • Outrage: Our Health Care System

July 2007; Vol. 23, No. 7

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  • Q&A on the Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine Gardasil
  • Product Recalls
  • Organ Donations: What Price, The Priceless?
  • Taming the Giant Corporation
  • Outrage: PDUFA: Buying Votes, Selling Unsafe Products

June 2007; Vol. 23, No. 6

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  • Public Citizen’s Ranking of State Medical Boards’ Serious Disciplinary Actions, 2004-2006
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Avandia: Not-So-New News of Heart Problems With the Popular Diabetes Drug

May 2007; Vol. 23, No. 5

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  • Back to Basics: Clean Water as a Medical Milestone
  • Doctors and Drug Company Favors
  • Drugs for Weight Loss
  • Product Recalls
  • Do Not Use Dextromethorphan
  • Outrage: What’s Wrong With This Story?: Pharmaceutical Company Files Sales Director for Telling the Truth

April 2007; Vol. 23, No. 4

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  • Unsettling Scores: A Ranking of State Medicaid Programs
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Walling Off Medicaid Beneficiaries

March 2007; Vol. 23, No. 3

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  • Public Citizen Petitions FDA to Ban Third-Generation Oral Contraceptives
  • Product Recalls
  • Cough and Cold Meds Send Babies to Hospital
  • American Life Expectancy on Rise
  • Colds: How to Treat Them
  • Outrage: And The Oscar for Best Drugumentary Goes To…

February 2007; Vol. 23, No. 2

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  • Medicaid @ 40: Why It Matters
  • Work and Wellness: Collusion or Collision?
  • A Statement by Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Health Letter’s Editor-in-Chief
  • Conflicts of Interest: An Issue That Will Not Go Away
  • Product Recalls
  • Conflicts of Interest Among Clinical Investigators
  • Outrage: Essay: What’s Making Us Sick Is an Epidemic of Diagnoses

January 2007; Vol. 23, No. 1

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  • Dr. Wolfe’s Diet Revolution
  • Product Recalls
  • Health Letter Volume Index 2006 and Cumulative Index
  • Outrage: Conflicts of Interest: The Hidden Side of Science

2006

December 2006; Vol. 22, No. 12

  • Report of Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Web Sites: A Survey and Ranking of State Medical and Osteopathic Board Web Sites in 2006
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: What If We Were Equal?

November 2006; Vol. 22, No. 11

  • New York City’s Answer to the Diabetes Epidemic: Screen, Trace, Track and Act: More Public Health, Fewer Pharmaceuticals
  • A Broader Context: Diabetes in the United States and in the World
  • What is Diabetes?
  • Bogus Cures for Diabetes on the Internet
  • The New York City Department of Health’s Recommendations for Living with Diabetes
  • Product Recalls
  • Diabetes in the U.S.: The Epidemic in Numbers
  • Outrage: Placing the Promise of Prevention in Context: The Case against the Diabetes Drug Rosiglatizone (Avandia)

October 2006; Vol. 22, No. 10

  • Crime and Punishment, Medical Style
  • The US FDA at a Crossroads
  • No “Alternative”
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: The Number of Uninsured in the United States Reaches 46.6 Million

September 2006; Vol. 22, No. 9

  • The Changing Dynamics of C-Sections in the United States: Cesarean Delivery on Maternal Request: Part II
  • Patients Without Borders: The Emergence of Medical Tourism: Part II
  • The “Ultimate Prize” for Big Tobacco: Opening the Chinese Cigarette Market by Cigarette Smuggling
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Fairness Creams in South Asia: A Case of Disease Mongering?

August 2006; Vol. 22, No. 8

  • Health Care Reform in the United States: Arguments for a Single Payer System
  • The Changing Dynamics of C-Sections in the United States: Part I
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Pharmaceutical Marketing and the Invention of the Medical Consumer

July 2006; Vol. 22, No. 7

  • Patients Without Borders: The Emergence of Medical Tourism
  • Study Finds Many Favor A Single Payer System
  • Product Recalls
  • Much-Needed Corrective Lenses for the “Clinical Eye”
  • Laser Therapy for Smoking: Shining a Laser on Bad Advertising Practices
  • Outrage: The Growing Gap in Reproductive Health

June 2006; Vol. 22, No. 6

  • Public Citizen’s Health Research Group Ranking of State Medical Board Disciplinary Actions: 2003-2005
  • Poll: People Understand Systemic Problems at FDA
  • Product Recalls
  • Exercise Status and Future Dementia
  • Study Finds Glucosamine, Chondroitin Ineffective for Joint Pain
  • Outrage: Pharmaceuticals Need Price Controls

May 2006; Vol. 22, No. 5

  • The Fight Against Disease Mongering
  • From Unease to Disease
  • Blurring the Boundaries between Health and Illness
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Massachusetts’ Mistake

April 2006; Vol. 22, No. 4

  • Hearing Aids: Why Medicare Should Provide Coverage
  • Despite New Study, Crestor Should Not Be Prescribed
  • Product Recalls
  • Chromium Industry Withheld Data from OSHA
  • Outrage: Darvon and Darvocet: What Are They Thinking?

March 2006; Vol. 22, No. 3

  • Drugs Used to Treat High Blood Pressure
  • Elevated Cholesterol Levels
  • Who Needs Nondietary Potassium Supplementation?
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Health Care Quality?

February 2006; Vol. 22, No. 2

  • High Blood Pressure
  • The Unaffordably High Cost of Cancer Drugs
  • Product Recalls
  • Exercise in People Age 65 Years and Older Is Associated with Lower Risk for Dementia
  • Outrage: Why Over-the-Counter? Diet Drug Poses Risks, Questionable Benefits

January 2006; Vol. 22, No. 1

  • Saving Money When Buying Prescription Drugs: Part III: Caution When Purchasing Drugs on the Internet
  • Recall Update
  • Product Recalls
  • Health Letter Volume Index 2004 and Cumulative Index
  • Outrage: Medicare Part D: What Benefit?

2005

December 2005; Vol. 21, No. 12

  • Drivel from the Drug Industry/U.S. Government Axis
  • Saving Money When Buying Prescription Drugs, Part II: Generic Drugs
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Second Chances: Big Tobacco Enters the Health Care Industry

November 2005; Vol. 21, No. 11

  • Curbing the Influence of the Drug Industry: A British View
  • Product Recalls
  • Saving Money When Buying Prescription Drugs
  • Public Citizen Writes of Drug Company Deception in Lancet Medical Journal
  • FDA Reverses Course of Needle Sticks, Shows Profound Indifference to Worker Health
  • Outrage: Helping Drug Reps Serve You Better: National Healthcare Census

October 2005; Vol. 21, No. 10

  • FDA Device Regulation Leaves Unsafe Products on Market: Public Citizen Petitions for Better Rules
  • Product Recalls
  • Antibiotic Clarithromycin (BIAXIN) Can Have Deadly Interaction with Anti-Gout Drug Colchicine
  • Three Misleading Direct-to-Consumer Ad Campaigns
  • Insurers Have it Wrong on Malpractice—Again
  • Industry Drug Guidelines Will Do Little to Prevent Misleading Ads

September 2005; Vol. 21, No. 9

  • New “Diseases”: Often Invented by Drug Industry Marketing Departments to Sell You Drugs
  • Ten Additional Causes of Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
  • Product Recalls
  • Preventing the Epidemic of Skin Cancer: A Guide for Protecting Yourself and Your Family
  • Asthma Medicines That Can Cause Asthma Attacks: Do Not Use Serevent, Advair, or Foradil
  • Outrage: FDA Denial of Public Citizen’s Petition to Ban Meridia is Misguided

August 2005; Vol. 21, No. 8

  • Sleight-of-Hand: Merck Contemplated Vioxx Reformulation in 2000 While Denying Risk
  • Can I Buy You Dinner? Pharmaceutical Companies Increasingly Use Doctors’ Talks as Sales Pitches
  • Product Recalls
  • Pennsylvania Data Show Large Number of Hospital-Acquired Infections
  • Decreased Child Mortality a Possibility with Appropriate Funding, Study Shows
  • FDA Issues Guidelines for Consumer Prescription Drug Information
  • FDA Approves Depression Device Without Proof of Effectiveness
  • Outrage: Warning: Contains FDA-Approved Drug…

July 2005; Vol. 21, No. 7

  • Medical Journals are an Extension of the Marketing Arm of Pharmaceutical Companies
  • Scientific Misconduct: Rare or Rampant?
  • Successfully Pushing Paxil on Television
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Drug Rep (Salesman) vs. Dr. Grobstein

June 2005; Vol. 21, No. 6

  • Ranking the State Medical Boards’ Serious Disciplinary Actions: 2002-2004
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Repeat Malpractice Offenders Compromise Patient Safety

May 2005; Vol. 21, No. 5

  • In Memoriam: Bill Hines, 1917-2005
  • “…Makes You Stop and Think”
  • Product Recalls
  • HMO-Medicare Crisis: Is Health Insurance for the Elderly on the Way Out?
  • Outrage: The Causes of Misprescribing and Overprescribing

April 2005; Vol. 21, No. 4

  • George A. Silver, M.D., 1913-2005: In Memoriam
  • Misprescribing and Overprescribing of Drugs
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: The Problem Is…

March 2005; Vol. 21, No. 3

  • Medical Liability Reform? FDA Does Not Adequately Protect Consumers
  • Illness and Medical Bills Cause Half of All Bankruptcies
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Get the Lead Out!

February 2005; Vol. 21, No. 2

  • Nine Reasons Why Older Adults are More Likely than Younger Adults to Have Adverse Drug Reactions
  • Bereavement
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Take Drugs Off the Market

January 2005; Vol. 21, No. 1

  • Health Care: Beyond Markets
  • Product Recalls
  • Health Letter Volume Index 2004 and Cumulative Index
  • Outrage: HHS Fails to Warn About Preventing Falls in Older Adults

2004

December 2004; Vol. 20, No. 12

  • Single Payer: Good for Business
  • Product Recalls
  • The View From Vermont

November 2004; Vol. 20, No. 11

  • America’s Neglected Veterans: 1.7 Million Who Served Have No Health Coverage
  • Blockbuster Arthritis Drug Rofecoxib (VIOXX) Withdrawn from Market: Worst Pills, Best Pills News Readers Warned in 2001: DO NOT USE
  • Product Recalls
  • Screening for Colon Cancer: Insurance Coverage Still Spotty
  • Outrage: “Stealth PACs” Give Drug Industry Big Bang for its Bucks

October 2004; Vol. 20, No. 10

  • Cheap Trick: Bush’s Health-Savings Accounts are a Bargain—Provided You Never Get Injured or Sick
  • You Have Reached the Medicare Program. Please Hold for the Next Available Source of Inaccurate Information
  • Product Recalls
  • Discovering Health Care Fraud and “Telling”: Whistleblowers

September 2004; Vol. 20, No. 9

  • Blood Safety
  • Product Recalls
  • Why is the U.S. So Far Behind on Prescription Drug Price Controls?
  • DO NOT USE! Lawsuit Reveals Serious Safety Problems with The Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) Valdecoxib (BEXTRA)
  • Even Moderate Amounts of Exercise Can Prevent Weight Gain
  • DO NOT USE! Long-Term Treatment with the Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Donepezil (ARICEPT) Ineffective
  • Weapons of Mass Destruction and Medicine

August 2004; Vol. 20, No. 8

  • The People Have Spoken: The Drug Industry Doesn’t Serve Us Well
  • Boutique Medicine (Concierge Care) Revisited
  • Product Recalls
  • Doctor Bribing in Italy
  • Suicide Risk Added To the Professional Product Labeling for Eight Antidepressants
  • DO NOT USE—Save Your Money: Dextromethorphan (DELSYM or generic) or Diphenhydramine (BENADRYL or generic) Ineffective for Nighttime Cough in Children
  • Outrage: Medizine: Drug Ads Masquerading as News

July 2004; Vol. 20, No. 7

  • The High Costs of For-Profit Care
  • It Takes Two to Tango (or to Bribe): Big-Time Crime in the Pharmaceutical Industry with the Help of Doctors
  • Product Recalls
  • Regular Exercise May Prolong Your Life
  • The Wild, Wild Web for Prescription Drugs
  • Outrage: Breast Implants as High School Graduation Presents: Just Poor Parenting or Child Abuse?

June 2004; Vol. 20, No. 6

  • Patent Fiction
  • National Health Insurance: Falling Expectations and the Safety Net
  • Product Recalls
  • DO NOT USE! Dangerous Drug for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Constipation Predominant Tegaserod (ZELNORM)
  • Improper Antibiotic Treatment for Bladder Infections
  • Outrage: Serious and Growing Problem of Antibiotic Resistance

May 2004; Vol. 20, No. 5

  • Public Citizen’s Health Research Group Ranking of State Medical board Serious Disciplinary Actions in 2003
  • Product Recalls
  • The Antidepressant Fluoxetine (PROZAC) and Suicidal Ideation—Déjà vu 1991
  • Saline Spray: Do Try This at Home
  • Outrage: FDA Frustrates the Intent of Congress for 17 Years

April 2004; Vol. 20, No. 4

  • Prescriptions and Profit
  • Publicity about Recent Studies on the Cholesterol-Lowering Statin Drugs: Misinterpretations
  • Product Recalls
  • Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Bad News for Most Patients and Doctors
  • Comments of a Canadian Doctor: After 10 years, Has Anything Really Changed for the Better?
  • Outrage: Serious Concerns about a Portable Ventilator (respirator)

March 2004; Vol. 20, No. 3

  • Overselling Donepezil (ARICEPT) and Exploiting Patients with Alzheimers Disease: Why Isn’t The FDA Stopping These Ads?
  • Product Recalls
  • New Jersey Slow to Police Problem Physicians
  • Protecting Yourself from Mad Cow Disease Infection
  • Outrage: Kidney Dialysis Facilities: Serious Problems of Compliance with Medicare Quality Standards

February 2004; Vol. 20, No. 2

  • Study Shows National Health Insurance Could Save $286 Billion on Health Care Paperwork
  • Product Recalls
  • Canada Outdoes U.S. on Flu Vaccine Policy
  • Harlot: How to Achieve positive Results without actually Lying to Overcome the Truth
  • AARP Rebellion Grows
  • Outrage: AARP and Medicare Legislation

January 2004; Vol. 20, No. 1

  • Breast Cancer: New Information About Screening Mammography and Genetics
  • Product Recalls
  • Health Letter Volume Index 2003 and Cumulative Index
  • Outrage: National Institute of Mental health Fails to Fund Important Mental Health Research

2003

December 2003; Vol. 19, No. 12

  • Documentary Shows Problems in Pharmaceutical Industry, FDA
  • Product Recalls
  • FDA Issues Public Health Advisory On Antidepressants and Suicide Risk in Children
  • How to Report Adverse Reactions to the FDA
  • Outrage: Do Not Use: Dangerous Antidepressant Nefazodone (SERZONE) Withdrawn From the Market in Canada

November 2003; Vol. 19, No. 11

  • A Conversation With Sheldon Krimsky: Uncoupling Campus and Company
  • Advertising Dietary Supplements on the Internet: Supplementing Income Rather than Health
  • Product Recalls
  • Do Not Use: Asthma Drug Montelukast (SINGULAIR) for the Treatment of Hay Fever
  • Outrage: We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us

October 2003; Vol. 19, No. 10

  • A New Health Care Gimmick: Concierge Medicine
  • Do Not Use: Rosuvastatin (CRESTOR) — A New But More Dangerous Cholesterol-Lowering “Statin” Drug
  • A Reminder About the Dangerous of Aspirin and Reye’s Syndrome
  • Product Recalls
  • DO NOT USE! Strong New Safety Warning Added For The Asthma Inhaler Salmeterol (SEREVENT)
  • Meridia — Weight Loss or Health Loss?
  • Outrage: Food and Drug Disaster

September 2003; Vol. 19, No. 9

  • Sweetening the Pill
  • CPSC Says Consumers Continue to Use Dangerous Products Despite Recalls, Warnings
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: FDA-Approved Patient Information Needed

August 2003; Vol. 19, No. 8

  • Profitably Inventing New Diseases
  • Secret No More: Medicare investigation results now fair game
  • Bad Medicine: Why Bush’s malpractice policy will only help insurers
  • Product Recalls: From sunscreen to extension cords: watch out!
  • Do Not Use Finasteride (PROSCAR, PROPECIA) For Preventing Prostate Cancer
  • Outrage: Taxol: How the NIH gave away the store

July 2003; Vol. 19, No. 7

  • Bush Administration Plan to Privatize Medicare Would Limit Seniors’ Choice of Doctors
  • The Big Fix: A Book Review: How the pharmaceutical industry rips off American consumers
  • Product Recalls
  • New Warning! Risk of stroke when the antipsychotic risperidone (RISPERDAL) is prescribed for dementia
  • Outrage of the Month: How Bayer shipped HIV-containing blood products to Asia and Latin America

June 2003; Vol. 19, No. 6

  • Doctor, Advocate, Activist
  • Health Research Group Ranks Medical Boards
  • Product Recalls
  • Resisting Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
  • Outrage: Democracy by Disclosure: A Book Review

May 2003; Vol. 19, No 5

  • Ephedra: Scientific Evidence Versus Money/Politics
  • Calcium By Any Other Name is Still Calcium
  • Bereavement
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: The Uncovering of an Undercoder: A Story of Medicine Triumphant

April 2003; Vol. 19, No. 4

  • Cost, Quality and Choice: Winning Less Expensive, Better Quality Health Care For America
  • Affordable Reform That Benefits Patients
  • The Dangers of Some Screening Tests
  • A Free Ride for Bad Doctors
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Nexium Offers Unique Advantage Over Generic Omeprazole

March 2003; Vol. 19, No. 3

  • Worst Pills, Best Pills News Now Available Online!
  • Selling “New” Drugs Using Smoke and Mirror (Images)
  • Foggy Thinking as Inhaled Flu Vaccine Nears FDA Approval
  • Product Recalls
  • MedWatch Reporting Form
  • Outrage: U.S. Air Force Flies High on Dexedrine

February 2003; Vol. 19, No. 2

  • Medical Errors, Not Lawsuits, are Real Cause of Rising Malpractice Insurance Premiums
  • Inadequate Doctor Discipline by State Medical Boards
  • Government Publishes Adult Immunization Schedule
  • Product Recalls
  • Tamoxifen for Breast Cancer Prevention?
  • Outrage: Wanna Quit Smoking? Who you Gonna Call? Philip Morris?

January 2003; Vol. 19, No. 1

  • “Neglected to Death:” The Scandalous Condition of American Nursing Homes
  • Product Recalls
  • Phyllis McCarthy Annual Public Interest Award
  • Health Letter Volume Index, 2002 and Cumulative Index
  • Outrage: Remedies Needed to Address the Pathology in Reporting Adverse Reactions and Food and Drug Administration Use of Reports

2002

December 2002; Vol. 18, No. 12

  • 25,00 U.S. Deaths a Year Because of For-Profit Kidney Dialysis
  • Low Quality HMOs Hide Performance Data from Public, Says Journal of the American Medical Association Study
  • Blind to the Data: OSHA Looks the Other Way as Workers Exposed to Hexavalent Chromium
  • Product Recalls
  • Drug Safety Withdrawals: Who is Responsible for Notifying Patients?
  • “Dangerous Political Cowardice:” FDA Fails to Ban Dietary Supplement Ephedra
  • Outrage: The Corruptible Academic-Industry Partnership

November 2002; Vol. 18, No. 11

  • Unsafe Drugs: Congressional Silence is Deadly (Part 2)
  • FDA Caves In to Industry, Fails to Adequately Address Tylenol Overdoses
  • Product Recalls
  • High Blood Pressure in the Physician’s Office?
  • Alzheimer’s Disease: Major Market Here to Stay
  • Outrage: GAO Report Backs Link Between Drug User Fees and Higher Rate of Drug Withdrawals

October 2002; Vol. 18, No. 10

  • ADAPT Trial for Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention Should Be Canceled
  • Will a Vitamin a Day Keep the Doctor Away?
  • Questionable Doctors Online
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Strange Bedfellows: How the Tobacco and Drug Industries Collaborated to Undermine Anti-Smoking Efforts

September 2002; Vol. 18, No. 9

  • The Invisible Plague: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to the Present
  • Update on the Illegal Promotion of Gabapentin (Neurontin)
  • Product Recalls
  • Pressure On to Ban Ephedra
  • West Nile Virus Activity
  • Outrage: Health Research Group Asks for Metabolife President to be Investigated

August 2002; Vol. 18, No. 8

  • Ethical Implications of Cosmetic Surgery for Aging
  • Product Recalls
  • Is Your Doctor Selling You to the Highest Bidder?
  • Hormone Replacement Therapy
  • Outrage: “It’s Botox Night at Hopkins”

July 2002; Vol. 18, No. 7

  • Big Pharma Buys Psychiatry: An Aura of Scandal
  • Product Recalls
  • Conflict of Interest? Medical Journal Changes Policy of Finding Independent Doctors to Write
  • Nicotine Lollipops: Sweet, Addictive and Illegal
  • Cancer.gov
  • Ten Years Ago Today: The Suppressed Democratic Study Group’s “Stealth” Survey Surfaces
  • Outrage: Department of Health and Human Services Fails to Ban Ephedra or Issue Adequate Warnings

June 2002; Vol. 18, No. 6

  • Questionable Doctors Online: Disciplined Doctor Resource Debuts on Public Citizen Web Site in June
  • Understanding Risks — and the Risks You Run by Misunderstanding Them
  • Overworked Doctors Walk Off the Job
  • Product Recalls
  • Preventing Heat Induced Death and Illness
  • Outrage: New Study: Wait Seven Years to Use New Drugs

May 2002; Vol. 18, No. 5

  • Public Citizen’s Health Research Group Ranking of State Medical Board Disciplinary Actions in 2001
  • Survey of Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Web Sites
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Possible Corruption at the American Heart Association

April 2002; Vol. 18, No. 4

  • Saving Your Sight — Early Detection is Critical
  • Nursing Homes: More Can Be Done to Protect Residents from Abuse
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: No Care for the Care Givers

March 2002; Vol. 18, No. 3

  • Direct-To-Consumer Advertising — Education or Emotion Promotion?
  • Analysis: HMOs Try New Approach to Keep Drug Cost Down
  • Rx Needed for Medical Journals
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: We Wish this Hospital Well

February 2002; Vol. 18, No. 2

  • The Destruction of Medicine by Market Forces: Teaching Acquiescence or Resistance and Change?
  • Good Business Suggestions [Business Week on controlling drug costs]
  • Product Recalls
  • Health Research Group Asks New Mexico to Sanction Doctor
  • New Study Shows Low Income Minority Seniors Restrict Use of Prescription Drugs
  • What Ails the Mass. Board of Medicine?
  • FDA Action on Red Cross Long Overdue
  • Canadians Begin Recall of Dangerous Drug Supplement Ephedra
  • Outrage: The AMA Does It Again

January 2002; Vol. 18, No. 1

  • What’s New In Screening Mammography
  • Product Recalls
  • Clearing the Smoke from Low-Tar and Nicotine Cigarettes
  • Health Letter Volume Index 2001 and Cumulative Index
  • Outrage: Oops — Did It Again (or, Escondido in Escondido)

2001

December 2001; Vol. 17, No. 12

  • “You Can’t Leap a Chasm in Two Jumps”
  • Product Recalls
  • “…Makes You Stop and Think!”
  • Philip Morris Brags About its Killer Cigarettes
  • Living and Dying
  • DEA Promotes Public Citizen Information
  • Outrage: “I Have Never Seen Anything Like This”

November 2001; Vol. 17, No. 11

  • Insufficient Credits
  • Drugs for Possible Exposure to Anthrax: What Makes Sense?
  • An Epidemic of Lung Disease Caused by a Quarter-Century of Government Inaction
  • Product Recalls
  • Colds: How to Treat Them
  • Outrage: The Lupron Loophole — and the Doctors Who Exploited It

October 2001; Vol. 17, No. 10

  • Health Care Reform Coming? Don’t Bet the Farm On It
  • Unsafe Drugs: Congressional Silence Is Deadly (Part 1)
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Do Not Use Ephedra

September 2001; Vol. 17, No. 9

  • Criminal Charges Should Be Filed Against Schering-Plough
  • Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Ads: Illegal, Unethical or Both
  • Below the Beltway
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Crouching Government, Hidden Snake Oil

August 2001; Vol. 17, No. 8

  • In Memory of Our Colleague Henry Bergman
  • Questionable Hospitals
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Darvon, Darvocet, Darvon Compound

July 2001; Vol. 17, No. 7

  • Hormone Therapy: Doubts Grow
  • Drug Companies’ Antics Can Really Make You Sick
  • Product Recalls
  • Why Doesn’t the Government Know About These Doctors?
  • Outrage: “Operation Cure.All” Wages New Battle in Ongoing War Against Internet Fraud

June 2001; Vol. 17, No. 6

  • Public Citizen Petitions OSHA to Limit Residents’ Working Hours
  • Preventing Heat-Induced Death and Illness
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Lontronex and the FDA: A Fatal Erosion of Integrity

May 2001; Vol. 17, No. 5

  • Public Citizen’s Health Research Group Ranking of State Medical Board Disciplinary Actions in 2000
  • How to Reduce the Risk of Mad Cow Disease in the United States
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Dietary Supplements: The FDA Should Do More

April 2001; Vol. 17, No. 4

  • Latin America: the Answer to Drug Companies’ Problems?
  • Election 2000 Commentators
  • Product Recalls
  • One Drug Company — Shering-Plough — Faces Massive Recalls
  • High Drug Prices for Research or Profit?
  • Is This Doc Deadly? His Practice Hasn’t Been Perfect
  • Outrage: CASHCOW — Here a Moo, There a Moo

March 2001; Vol. 17, No. 3

  • Is the U.S. Safe from Mad Cow Disease? Could We Be Safer?
  • Still Hard to Swallow
  • Product Recalls
  • It’s the Calories that Count
  • COX-2 Inhibitors Vioxx and Celebrex: Keep Staying Away
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission Finally Sees the Light on Lead in Candles
  • Outrage: A Discussion of Misleading Drug Ads

February 2001; Vol. 17, No. 2

  • Unhealthy Partnership: How Massachusetts and Its Managed Care Contractor Shortchange Troubled Children
  • Bad Policy, Worse Medicine
  • Let the ‘Non-Governments’ Beware: Multinational Organizations Are Out to Co-opt You and Your Tactics
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: None of Your Business

January 2001; Vol. 17, No. 1

  • FDA Fails to Get the Point on Safe Needles for Health Care Workers
  • Sex Education Information on the Internet: Caveat Emptor!
  • Product Recalls
  • Volume Index, 2000 and Cumulative Alphabetic Index
  • Outrage: FDA Accuses Red Cross of Jeopardizing the Safety of the Blood Supply

2000

December 2000; Vol. 16, No. 12

  • Is U.S. Health Really the Best in the World?
  • Osteoporosis
  • A Better Quality Alternative: Single Payer National Health Reform
  • Medical Fluoroscopy: Radiation-induced Skin Injury
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: America’s Ailing Medical Education System

November 2000; Vol. 16, No. 11

  • Review of Calcium Supplements; Ads Exaggerate Differences
  • Long-Acting Calcium Channel Blockers Inferior to Older Blood Pressure Lowering Drugs in Preventing Heart Attacks and Heart Failure
  • When is a Patient Group Not a Patient Group?
  • Product Recalls
  • Television and Obese Children: A Strong Connection
  • Sitting Backwards is Safer
  • HRG Petitions the FDA to Ban Dangerous Diet and Cough/Cold Drugs in Over-the Counter Products
  • Outrage: “Too Much Corporate Power”

October 2000; Vol. 16, No. 10

  • Epilepsy
  • How To Report Adverse Reactions to the Food and Drug Administration
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Victimizing the Vulnerable

September 2000; Vol. 16, No. 9

  • 20,125 Questionable Doctors
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Human Experimentation for Profit

August 2000; Vol. 16, No. 8

  • The Pharmaceutical Industry–To Whom is It Accountable?
  • Hundreds of Thousands of Workers at Risk from Hexavalent Chromium, Study Obtained Through FOIA Shows
  • Product Recalls
  • Report Estimates Air Lead Levels from Some Candle Wicks at Up to 36 Times EPA Standards
  • The Risks of Tranquility
  • Outrage: Erroneous and Misleading Reports in Media About Prescription Drugs

July 2000; Vol. 16, No. 7

  • Patients’ Rights Bills
  • Bereavement
  • Product Recalls
  • Outrage: Inspector General’s Study on Human Experimentation

June 2000; Vol. 16, No. 6

  • Kids First? How Vaccination Politics Can Undermine Public Health
  • Product Recalls
  • The Health Research Group Launches ‘eLetter’ Web Site On Prescription Drugs for the Seriously Mentally Ill
  • Dr. Ross (or Nurse Hathaway) Will See You Now
  • Summer: How to Protect Yourself
  • Dangerous Gap in the Drug Safety System
  • Canadian Update on the Drug Celecoxcib (CELEBREX) Confirms HRG Warning
  • Outrage: Mother Dies, But Son Can’t Get Explanation Because Her Doctor Won’t OK Inquiry’s Disclosure

May 2000; Vol. 16, No. 5

  • Ranking of State Medical Board Disciplinary Actions in 1999
  • Do Not Use This Drug: Propulsid Withdrawn from the Market
  • Product Recalls
  • Loyalty in Government Service – to Whom?
  • Reducing Dangers to Pregnant Women
  • Outrage: DRKOOP.CON: America’s Family Doctor and his Conflicts of Interest, Part II

April 2000; Vol. 16, No. 4

  • Safety Alert! It Is Better to Curse the Darkness Than to Light This Kind of Candle
  • St. John’s Wort: A Growing List of Harmful Drug Interactions
  • Medicare: Few Beneficiaries Use Colorectal Cancer Screening and Diagnostic Services
  • Product Recalls
  • Patients, Doctors Not Warned of Dangers of New Diabetes Drugs
  • Outrage: Health News Feels the Censor’s Knife

March 2000; Vol. 16, No. 3

  • Survey of Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Medical Board Web Sites
  • Untested Herbs and Food Supplements for Pregnant Women Making the FDA Retract its Dangerous Regulation
  • Product Recalls
  • New Concerns About Menopausal Hormones and Breast Cancer
  • Outrage: The Unkindest Cut of All: Unnecessary Episiotomies

February 2000; Vol. 16, No. 2

  • Managed Costs, Mismanaged Care
  • Primary Care in the United States – The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
  • Trust Me, I’m a Patient
  • Hollywood Hails a Tobacco Whistle Blower
  • Product Recalls
  • Debate on FDA’s Recent Decision on Herbal Products
  • Outrage: Flu Epidemic May Be Just a Flu Advertisement

January 2000; Vol. 16, No. 1

  • Wrong Prescription: Bill Bradley’s Health Plan is No Cure
  • For-Profit Kidney Dialysis Centers Compromise Kidney Care
  • Point/Counterpoint: Is it Ethical to Pay Research Subjects Large Sums?
  • Product Recalls
  • Health Letter Volume Index for 1999 and Cumulative Index for 1985-1999
  • Outrage: Study Shows Widespread Medical Errors