Bottom Line Health
See book keywords and concepts |
| THE STUDY
In this study, 78% of 200 hospitals surveyed nationwide did not require general pediatricians to be board-certified when they first received hospital privileges. However, 70% did require pediatricians become board-certified at some point. Almost half (48%) of those that required board certification had a time frame within which certification was needed, but 42% did not.
Of the 193 US health plans the researchers surveyed, 90% did not require general pediatricians to be board-certified when they were initially credentialed by the plan. |
Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
See book keywords and concepts |
 Another 18% were to specialists in internal medicine, 10% to pediatricians, 8% to obstetrician-gynecologists, and 7% to ophthalmologists. Many of these visits were for primary care.4
That's a lot of office visits. What happens when you get to your physician's office? We would hope that your interaction with the doctor is thorough and nuanced.
It isn't.
The average office visit lasts only 19 minutes.5 During the physician's exam, the patient does little talking. A Swedish study found that physicians interrupt their patients' presentations after an average of only 22 seconds. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
See article keywords and concepts |
 Doctors and pediatricians remain silent. There is no outcry. No national scandal. No action by the FDA to protect babies. Some doctors even recommend this stuff! (And stupid parents keep buying it!)
2007
A survey of 1,600 practicing physicians published in the Annals of Internal Medicine reveals that reveals that nearly half of all doctors failed to report an incompetent colleague who posed a risk to the health or safety of a patient. |
Melody Petersen
See book keywords and concepts |
 Charles Grose wrote of the physicians' nightmare in a newsletter sent to the state's pediatricians a few months later. He said that one child had died not from the flu but from a mutant strain of staph known as MRSA that had grown resistant to many antibiotics.
Another child, Dr. Grose said, had died from a bacterial strep infection so vicious that it had killed its victim even before doctors could start treatment. Other physicians found, he said, that a powerful antibiotic called Rocephin had failed to work in three young patients. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
See article keywords and concepts |
 Fortunately, some bright-minded pediatricians have apparently decided to take action to protect children instead of protecting Big Pharma. An official from the American Academy of Pediatrics has openly stated that the cold medicines don't work in children under six years old and may, in fact, be dangerous to their health.
Never tested on children
Here's an interesting fact to consider when determining the credibility of the FDA's safety record: None of the cold medicines that have been marketed to children for decades -- right under the noses of FDA officials -- were ever tested in children! |
| REPPED: Another example of outright quackery by pharmaceutical companies has finally gathered enough steam to achieve mainstream news coverage: Cold medicines are useless, say pediatricians who petitioned the FDA to ban the marketing of such products to children. Last month, an FDA advisory panel partially agreed with the recommendation, and voted to declare that such medicines should not be used in children younger than six. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
See article keywords and concepts |
| Saving grace: A few courageous pediatricians now speak out forcefully about the importance of breastfeeding...)
1930's
Smoking while pregnant? No problem. Doctors recommend Camels more than any other cigarette! Result: Massive chemical toxicity of the bodies of newborns. Increased cancer risk, reduced brain development and a lifetime of immune system disorders. (Cigarette ads routinely appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association for well over a decade.)
1940's
Need a new pair of shoes for your kid? Go size 'em up with the fluoroscope X-ray machine at your local shoe store! |
Melody Petersen
See book keywords and concepts |
| But when the presentations were over, it was clear that a few pediatricians in the audience had been unsettled by the talk of prescribing Ritalin to three-year-olds who were always on the go. When the panel asked for questions, Dr. Lobas had walked to the microphone and said he was seeing children in Iowa on multiple medications, a practice that doctors call polypharmacy. Dr. Lobas said it appeared that some doctors caring for these children were of the mind "Why use one drug when you can use three?"
One of the speakers, Dr. Christopher Varley, from the University of Washington, told Dr. |
Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
See book keywords and concepts |
| The American
Medical Association (AMA) also counts pediatricians and obstetrician-gynecologists as primary care physicians.
It is a growing—and evolving—profession. In the United States, in 1998, there were 264,000 primary care physicians, almost double the number from 1970. Of these, the most common specialty was internal medicine, 100,000 (41% of the total), followed by 66,000 (21%) in family practice—a specialty that did not exist in 1970. Only 6% listed their specialty as "general practice," a decline of 71% from 1970. |
Melody Petersen
See book keywords and concepts |
| A story published in the foundation's glossy magazine that I picked up at a pediatricians' conference in 2005 was entitled "Me and My Growth Hormone." The story began, "I was short. My little sister was taller than me. Kids at school picked on me and called me names." The tale continued with the child getting growth hormone injections and growing so much his pants got too short. "I'm almost grown now," the story ended. "I'm in the normal range on a growth chart. Growth hormone is like a miracle drug."
Other clandestine pharmaceutical marketing occurred on Iowa's university campuses. |
Bottom Line Health
See book keywords and concepts |
| Although 41% of the health plans required the pediatricians be certified at some point, the majority (61%) had no time frame in which this should happen. Only 40% of health plans require subspecialists to become board-certified.
"It appears that many hospitals and many health plans are not using the tools that are available to them to help ensure that the public has the highest quality of care that can be provided," says Freed.
IMPLICATIONS
The study raises the question of whether certification translates into better patient care. |
| New research shows that many hospitals and health plans do not require pediatricians to be board-certified, a finding that may have implications for patient safety and quality of care.
"You don't have to be board-certified to practice in most hospitals in America, and only around 40% of health plans require a general pediatrician to be certified at any time of association with the health plan," says study author Dr. Gary L. Freed, director of the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. |
Shannon Brownlee
See book keywords and concepts |
 The group paid its doctors according to a complex formula based on their specialty and productivity. pediatricians and family practice doctors were at the bottom of the salary heap, and cardiologists and radiologists were at the top, with other specialists ranged in between. The more patients a doctor saw over the course of a year, the more the group earned as a whole from PPO and fee-for-service plans and the higher the individual physician's pay. A few of their patients were still in capitated plans, which meant the group was paid a flat fee for each of those patients. |
Andreas Moritz
See book keywords and concepts |
 Cereal is one of the first solid foods introduced to babies, and pediatricians typically encourage parents to start feeding cereal to their babies from between 4 and 6 months. Their advice grossly contradicts findings from a study that cereals introduced in the diets of babies increased the risk of insulin-dependent diabetes in the children.
Kellogg had hoped to add iron, calcium, folic acid and vitamin B6 to some cereals and cereal bars, as it is so common in other countries. |
Dawson Church
See book keywords and concepts |
 Thirty Brooklyn pediatricians petitioned the mayor to pull the plug on her activities, because the supply of sick children being brought into their lucrative practices was drying up. Today, a conventional medical system under threat from many fronts has to confront new therapies that can heal patients much faster—and, in many cases, more cheaply—than conventional approaches. Some react with ridicule, scorn, dismissal, and an unscientific refusal to honestly consider the facts. |
Mark Sircus
See book keywords and concepts |
 Is a medical crime being committed when these pediatricians fail to address the crucial relationship between magnesium and calcium? Our affirmative answer is sustained when reviewing the materials presented below.
Experts say excessive calcium intake may be unwise in light of recent studies showing that high amounts of the mineral may increase risk of prostate cancer. "There is reasonable evidence to suggest that calcium may play an important role in the development of prostate cancer," says Dr. |
| Yet, the American Diabetes Association in their 2006 guidelines for diabetes and pre-diabetes, when making treatment and nutritional recommendations, joined pediatricians in maintaining the general medical status quo, by not calling attention to this very correctable health concern and recommending that magnesium be addressed in a significant way. This is despite the increasing evidence over the years that magnesium is even more deficient in diabetics and that current dietary recommendations do not address the issue. |
| Article: pediatricians Say That Most US Kids Don't Get Enough Calcium http:// www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/GeneralPediatrics/dh/2624
7 Signs and symptoms of hypercalcemia may include: Nausea, Fatigue, Vomiting, Lethargy, Stomach pain, Moodiness, Constipation, Irritability, Anorexia, Confusion, Excessive thirst, Extreme muscle weakness, Dry mouth or thoat, Irregular heart beat, Frequent urination, Coma
8 Stendig-Lindberg G. Tepper R. Leichter I. Trabecular bone density in a two year controlled trial of peroral magnesium in osteoporosis. |
| It is a horrible crime and terrible sadness what is being done to the children by pediatricians and psychiatrists who live by the increasingly popular creed to drug the kids with toxic substances."
When the body of a 19-year-old student, Traci Johnson, was found hanging from a shower rod in the laboratories of pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly, US officials were quick to announce that the death could not be linked to a new anti-depressant drug she was helping to test. |
Shannon Brownlee
See book keywords and concepts |
| The primary care doctors—the pediatricians, general internists, and family practitioners— weren't permitted to send a patient to a specialist as they saw fit. Now, they had to get permission from the insurance company—from some clerk who sometimes had nothing more than a high school education. They had to refer their patients to specialists who appeared on a list of insurance companies' "in-network" doctors, whatever that meant—all they knew was they were sending their patients to doctors they had never met and therefore couldn't entirely trust. |
James Dowd and Diane Stafford
See book keywords and concepts |
 This makes me wonder what's appropriate for children. pediatricians recommend that children two or younger drink whole milk, and you mention only low-fat. What's the story? Also, what about cheese for kids?
A: Dairy isn't as healthy as lean meat and vegetables because of the sugar factor. The lactose in milk is a simple sugar. Milk is a complete nutritional package for children younger than one, but it also provides excess sugar that they don't need after the first year of life. The combo of simple sugar and protein promotes insulin resistance. |
Melody Petersen
See book keywords and concepts |
| Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, the University of Iowa, and the state's pediatricians urged parents to have their children tested.
At least one pharmaceutical company had even been able to place a storybook it published in a library used by Iowa's public schools. Solvay Pharmaceuticals had distributed the book Kids Like Me across the country to promote its antidepressant Luvox.
The book featured Marc Summers, the host of Double Dare, a children's game show on Nickelodeon. |
Gary Null and Amy McDonald
See book keywords and concepts |
 When we gave him the proper homeopathic remedy, removed sugar from his diet, and gave him a little cod liver oil, the pediatricians and specialists who had been following him for his ear infections and asthma were amazed at how beautifully he did; he turned out not to require tubes in his ears, which they had recommended. Also, his attention deficit and concentration span improved."
Dr. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman has treated hundreds of ADHD children homeopathically. She is worried, first of all, about overdiagnosis. |
| But regrettably, Big Pharma—working with the mental health community, pediatricians, psychologists, and nurses—have pathologized normal behavior as a result of this pernicious effort, and virtually any child can be diagnosed with a mental disorder.
Dr. Lendon Smith attributed the increase in cases to the toxic overload created by environmental chemicals. He was particularly adamant about the magnesium deficiencies that have occurred in many children as a result of environmental poisoning.
"Today there are more children who are chronically depressed than there were in the past," Dr. |
Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
See book keywords and concepts |
 In fact, this alleged link between sugar and children's behavior is one of the most hotly debated issues among pediatricians, parents, researchers, the medical community, and activists. Interestingly, ample arguments exist to support either point of view.
"Researchers have been unable to document a causal relationship, because this is a difficult study to scientifically predict and reproduce," says Carden Johnston, M.D., former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a national organization with 57,000 members. |
| Fighting for the Hearts and Tummies of the Next Generation
What most angers and horrifies us, along with nutrition experts, pediatricians, children's advocacy groups, and parents, is that many corporations go after our nation's young to inculcate brand loyalties for life.
"Kids are major consumers of sugary and fatty junk food so the industry is positioning the goods toward them," observes Dr. Adam Drewnowski, director of the University of Washington's Center for Public Health Nutrition. |
| Even the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), whose members include 57,000 primary care pediatricians and pediatric specialists nationwide, took a stand against soft drinks and urged school districts to consider restricting the sale of them "to safeguard against health problems that result from overconsumption. |
Shannon Brownlee
See book keywords and concepts |
| Most of his patients were insured; some were on Medicaid, and a few had no insurance at all, but he and the two other pediatricians in the practice felt a duty to care for their share of the poor. They could afford it, because their insured patients provided a decent living. It was a good life.
All that began to change sometime in the 1980s. Peabody can't put his finger on an exact date, but one day he began to realize that he didn't feel like he was doing his patients any good, and that practicing medicine was no longer rewarding. His colleagues felt the same way. |
Email this page to a friend
