Category: Medical ethics

Unethical Corporate Influences on Health Care

November 7, 2016July 31, 2018 Michael Carlston, MD

graphic of Monopoly banker, B/W illustration

Over just the last few months, a rash of unethical corporate behaviors, all in some way involving monetary influences on health care, have come to light. One was a disclosure about the Harvard Medical School showing that in the 1960s the sugar industry redirected researchers away from the conclusion that sugar contributed to heart disease. […]

The CDC and the Illness of Our Health Care System

July 1, 2015July 31, 2018 Michael Carlston, MD

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are a US governmental organization purposed to collect and analyze information about diseases and, WITHOUT BIAS, create guidelines for physicians and the community. The British Medical Journal has discovered that the CDC has been “partnering” with private financial interests.

Pharmaceutical Profiteering Must Stop

September 16, 2014July 31, 2018 Michael Carlston, MD

In another example of pharmaceutical manufacturer greed, prices of concentrated insulin have soared. There is no reason for the increases other than profit. The discovery of insulin by Frederick Banting, who then developed the process of extracting it for medical use with his student Charles Best, saved the lives of many diabetics. Those people had […]

Doctors, Drugs, and Conflicts of Interest

December 30, 2013July 31, 2018 Michael Carlston, MD

Why are ethically tainted guidelines accepted in medicine and why are tainted commentaries published in prestigious medical journals? Why are docs so easily mislead by drug company marketing? How is that drug companies are allowed to continue to operate with civil and criminal misdeeds merely a part of their cost of doing business?