番茄社区

Special Reports

NPDB Records Often Ignored in Docs' Licensing

Most medical boards rarely look at Practitioner Data Bank

Suspended for Drug Offenses, Now an Addiction Specialist

While on probation for prescription drug issues, doc gets new license in Florida

From Rehab to Pill Mill

Investigated for addiction in one state, now in federal prison after working in another

Lifetime Chaperone in New York, Endowed Chair in Wisconsin

Sex with patient brings 'moral unfitness' decision in one state; another calls it 'minor'

A Patient's Journey: And Now, a Word from a Pathologist

Howard Wolinsky goes one-on-one with pathologist and blogger Lester Raff, MD

A Patient's Journey: There's a Vitamin for That

Howard Wolinsky may have the most expensive urine in Chicago

A Patient's Journey: What Is 'Just Right'?

In this installment of A Patient's Journey, Howard Wolinsky talks A1C with his primary care physician

Lowering the Bar: Assessing Risk vs Benefit

Does marginal risk nullify marginal benefit?

Lowering the Bar: How PMDD Went from an Idea to a Diagnosis

Sometimes the drug comes first

Lawsuits Follow PMDD Diagnosis: Lowering the Bar

DVT and PE risks at issue

A Patient's Journey: Celebrity Revelation Stirs the Pot

Ben Stiller says PSA testing saved his life. Did it really?

Lowering the Bar: Adult ADHD, a Risky Diagnosis?

As adult ADHD diagnoses increase, so do stimulant overdoses

Lowering the Bar: Patient or Addict?

For some an ADHD diagnosis is a ticket to ride the stimulant express

A Patient's Journey: Can High-Grade PIN Be 'Great News'?

Biopsy vacation ends, worry index jumps

Lowering the Bar: Love Potion Number 9 Million?

Is the history of "low T" and "hypoactive sexual desire disorder" a tale of profit trumping science?

Does a 'Short Fuse' a Condition Make?

Some call it road rage, but medicine is now calling it IED. Lowering the Bar: Medicine in the 21st Century weighs the evidence

ADHD: How Did It Leap from Classroom to Boardroom?

Adults are now routinely diagnosed with ADHD. Why is that? This Lowering the Bar; Medicine in 21st Century report seeks answers

Lowering the Bar: Medicine in the 21st Century

Does diagnosis always mean disease, or does it sometimes mean opportunity?

Gluttony -- Once a Deadly Sin, Now a Treatable Disorder

This "Lowering the Bar: Medicine in the 21st Century" MedPageToday/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report takes a hard look at binge-eating disorder

Slippery Slope: A Targeted Therapy That Misses the Mark?

Afinitor racks up FDA approvals, but where is the evidence?

Slippery Slope: Does Convenience Trump Safety With NOACs?

Celebrities tout ease of new anticoagulants, but is there real benefit?

Slippery Slope: FDA Reviewer Questions Eliquis Mortality Claim

Trial data from more than 300 patients is missing

Slippery Slope: Diet Drugs No Help for Heart

In another edition of the Slippery Slope series examining use of surrogate endpoints in drug approvals, 番茄社区 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel find diet drugs are approved without solid evidence of benefits, but with hints of harm.

Slippery Slope: $$ in, Diet Drugs Out, How Five Drugs Came to Market

Makers of diet drugs spent more than $60 million on payments to doctors, organized medicine, and lobbyists to get their drugs approved.

Slippery Slope: Fen-Phen Users Recall a 'Miracle' Turned Nightmare

Fen-phen use was linked to heart valve damage, as these two cases illustrate.

Killing Pain: Benzo 'Boost' Can Be Deadly

Adding a benzodiazepine to an opioid painkiller can increase the effect of the opioid, or in the language of addiction, benzos can boost the high -- but the combo can be deadly, according to this Killing Pain report from 番茄社区 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Kalydeco: A Price Too High to Pay?

A 番茄社区/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report revealed the staggering annual treatment cost for the cystic fibrosis drug ivacaftor (Kalydeco) as part of an investigation of venture philanthrophy -- now a JAMA Viewpoint echoes those findings.

Cystic Fibrosis: Charity and Industry Partner for Profit

When a disease-related charity becomes a venture capitalist, count the pharmaceutical industry among the winners, but the charity is not far behind as John Fauber explains in this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/番茄社区 investigation.

Deaths Trigger DEA Probe of Pain Specialist

Treating pain is challenging, and sometimes perilous, for both physician and patient, as is illustrated by Lynn Webster, MD, president-elect of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, who is the subject of an investigation triggered by as many as 20 deaths among his patients.

Advair: How Safe Is This Drug?

The asthma drug Advair is used by millions of patients worldwide and for many patients it is an effective treatment, but the drug is often used as first line therapy, an unapproved and possibly dangerous indication as this investigation by MedPageToday/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reveals.

Anatomy of an Epidemic: The Opioid Movie

The national clamor over abuse of prescription opioids is now at a fever pitch, but little has been said about what drove the boon in opioid prescriptions. This latest report from 番茄社区/ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analyzes a pivotal Oxycontin marketing video, it's impact and its aftermath.

Follow the Money: Pain, Policy, and Profit

When the Federation of State Medical Boards decided it needed to put a model guideline for opioid use into a book, it reached out and touched the makers of opioid drugs to make it happen.

Training Technique Stresses Athletes' Spines

CHICAGO --The squat lift, an exercise that has long been a standard training technique for athletes, puts inordinate stress on the spine and likely is the cause of chronic stress fractures in young athletes.

Researcher Sounded Alarm on Medtronic's Infuse Years Ago

As part of a continuing investigation into a bone morphogenetic protein-2 product marketed as Infuse, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/番茄社区 describe a first-hand account of early signs of problems with the device as well as efforts to minimize the clinical significance of those problems.

Medtronic Records Reveal Royal Rewards

Since it won FDA approval in 2002 for use in spinal fusions,recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2, or BMP 2, has generated annual sales of $800 million. Many of those sales represented off-label use, a trend that has lately stirred the interest of Congress and the media. 番茄社区 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed many aspects of this marketing approach in an earlier special report; here, we report information gathered in our follow-up investigation. Related: Operator-Dependent Results Cloud Picture

Once-Chronic Peptic Ulcers Now Curable

Over the past 25 years, peptic ulcer disease went from a costly, chronic condition to one that can be eliminated with little chance of recurrence. But the road from point A to point B was not an easy one.

Recovery of Hurricane-Devastated Medical Center Begins With Small Step

GALVESTON, Tex. -- Eleven weeks after Hurricane Ike turned the University of Texas Medical Branch into a backwater of the Gulf of Mexico, the doors of John Sealy Hospital here swung open for acute care in a symbolic step toward recovery.