Some Nurses pretty quick to fall for fabrications!

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

There is a recently posted thread here claiming that there are provisions sneakily inserted into the economic stimulus bill that would create all sorts of government controls on what treatments doctors could order for their patients. What you think of that is one thing. The fact that the initial article on which the thread is based is a complete fabrication - that's another thing entirely. Some people in that thread do a fair bit of debunking the original post, but the thread has grown so long so fast it's easy to miss them and I'm sure plenty of folks won't read that far, so I decided I'd start a new thread on the subject.

Why the lies? Because what is in the bill is some money to study - just study - the comparative effectiveness of various treatments and devices. Who doesn't want those studies done? Companies who make drugs and devices they secretly think might be overpriced and ineffective - that's who. And it turns out that the author of the original article referenced is on the board of directors and in the pay of at least one such company. Bingo!

Here's a link to a Washington Post article that tells the story pretty well:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/12/AR2009021203527.html?hpid=topnews

And here's a little more about the author of the original article:

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/02/13/mccaughey-biotech/

Take home lesson: do a little checking before you get all exercised over something - especially if it sounds unlikely on its face.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Thanks for the call to reason and thought....