NY Times roundup

Here are three recent New York Times articles that caught my eye. On March 13th, Tara Parker-Pope’s health blog “Well” reprinted “The 12 Most Annoying Habits of Therapists.” Actually, the list comes from PsychCentral, a blog written by psychologist John M. Grohol, and in my opinion reads better there. I won’t list all 12 habits […]

Prescribing by habit and evidence

A recent Rolling Stone article on the over-prescribing of Eli Lilly’s anti-psychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine) started me thinking in a general way about the psychology of choosing what to prescribe. I’ve written before about the effects of pharmaceutical marketing, how billions are spent to influence doctors’ prescribing habits at both rational and non-rational levels. The Zyprexa […]

Long hours in medical and surgical residency

The New York Times health blog “Well” today posted:

A national panel of medical experts proposed significant and costly changes for training new doctors in the nation’s hospitals, recommending mandatory sleep breaks and more structured shift changes to reduce the risk of fatigue-related errors.

The report was issued by the Institute of Medicine […]

Does your doctor attend biased professional talks?

On October 3rd the New York Times reported that several prominent research psychiatrists are under Congressional investigation for failing to report income derived from consulting and speaking for pharmaceutical companies. One of the field’s most renowned and prolific researchers, Charles B. Nemeroff MD of Emory University, stands accused of concealing over $1 million since 2000, […]