Implicating Emory?

To see the letters sent to Dr. Doug Bremner of Emory University ordering him not to use their name on his blog, click here. After much controversy, as you can see, in the final letter, dated today, Emory has recoiled and stated that Dr. Bremner can now once again use his title and university name on his own blog as long as he clarifies that he is speaking for himself and not for the institution.

It seems that Emory was originally concerned that it might be “implicated” in the scandal of the decade, after some anonymous complainer contacted them and threatened to take their concerns to the Georgia Medical Board… all because Dr. Bremner wrote on Emory letterhead that Philip Dawdy should be allowed to smoke in his own apartment.

Apparently now that Congress has decided that tobacco should be regulated by the FDA, doctors cannot make jokes about people smoking in far-off states. Heaven forbid an M.D. make a statement about the effects of nicotine withdrawal…

I wonder, if instead, I mean hypothetically speaking… someone like Zachary Stowe (after taking money from GSK while working on NIH grants) signs a letter written on Emory letterhead, composed by some PR expert at Cohn & Wolf to promote Paxil as safe for breastfeeding, a letter which is then quoted on headlines around the globe with the so-called safety information marketed to lactation specialists and OBGYNs… whether Emory would voluntarily contact Zachary Stowe and order him to stop using his position at Emory to influence medical decisions for babies in far-off states for whom he is not a primary care physician? (Hmmmm… or would it take a Senate investigation to get Emory to reprimand him?)

Wait, I think I already know the answer to that…

When it comes to telling a mature adult that he can make his own choice about smoking, that’s a medical fiasco.

But when it comes to telling a WORLD full of reporters and nursing moms that an SSRI with a BLACK BOX warning is safe to feed to a newborn baby via breast milk, that’s perfectly acceptable. Unless a Senator finds out.

Yet what really has happened to all that “research” that Stowe conducted while on the take? Self-proclaimed “experts” continue using the studies to justify pushing drugs on mothers. It remains to be seen whether and how extensively the truth will trickle down to the moms who need to know it. Most people probably continue on in ignorance, citing the same “information” pushed on breastfeeding moms for the past several years…

Hey, maybe we should give the guy a few more government grants, or cite his “research” papers a few dozen more times and send the new articles (containing the “metaanalyses” of 100 articles all of which cite Stowe’s articles as their source) in for more coverage by the PR firms and PR bloggers to use in their promotion of The MOTHERS Act, or promotions of drugging nursing moms.

Here’s how this all works: If Philip Dawdy smokes in his apartment, a neighbor might have to smell it and that would be inconvenient. And all who condone his smoking, or even poke fun at the apartment complex, should be exposed for their massive lack of “ethics.”

But if millions of childbearing or nursing women take a drug that has been shown to induce SIDS, coma, seizures, etc. according to MedWatch, the doctors responsible are… well, never held responsible. And all those who promote drugging these babies are… given awards and grants and speaking engagements. Just don’t forget to send in the paycheck on time. You don’t want to get someone irritated to the point that they start acting “like a prick.”

I wonder how much negative attention it would take to get some justice for all those dead babies out there who have people like Stowe, Cohn & Wolfe, or GSK to blame for giving their mommies the go-ahead on drugging them.