Public Citizen’s Health Letter: 2000 – 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

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

December 2007; Vol. 23, No. 12

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

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

March 2007; Vol. 23, No. 3

• 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

• 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

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

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?

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

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

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

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)

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

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