If good can come out of the death of Michael Jackson, it may be through raising awareness that medications may not be our friends. Link (Globe&Mail) As we read this chapter from a new book on Michael Jackson, we are struck by how many of his traits - anorexia, pain, eccentricity and isolation - resemble nutritional deficiency conditions called Pyroluria and Histadelia.
This bizarre story after the death of MJ reminds us in a different way that meds are not our friends - Seroquel murder-suicide
Disability historian explores 'mad' people's history Not until he was 27 did Geoffrey Reaume come out of the closet. The York critical disabilities and health ethics professor, now 44, disclosed to his thesis supervisor that he had been in a psychiatric hospital during his teens. It added credence to his proposal to do a PhD on life in a Toronto asylum – from the patients’ perspective.
Until Reaume came along, historians had documented life in asylums in Canada based solely on doctors’ points of view. Doctors’ accounts of patients "were grossly stereotypical," says Reaume, who also took offence at fellow historians who dismissed patients’ accounts of their asylum experience as rambling and semi-literate, who ignored their humanity. "It was insulting to call them that when they were just trying to express themselves," says the Faculty of Health professor. "That’s why I felt it was important to tell their stories."
He applied under the Freedom of Information Act for access to patients’ records at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane between 1870 and 1940. As he combed the medical files, he began unearthing the authentic voices of "mad" patients from snatches of conversation doctors and nurses had recorded in their notes, and patients’ letters confiscated by asylum staff. Gradually, he formed a picture of what daily life in an asylum was like from patients’ points of view. It was groundbreaking research and Oxford University Press Canada published his PhD thesis as a book, Remembrance of Patients Past: Patient Life at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane, 1870-1940, in 2000.
"RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN RESPONSE TO MEDICINES: TOWARDS INDIVIDUALIZED PHARMACEUTICAL TREATMENT
Valentine J. Burroughs, MD, Randall W. Maxey, MD, PhD, and Richard A. Levy, PhD Washington, DC and Reston, Virginia
It is now well documented that substantial disparities exist in the quality and quantity of medical care received by minority Americans, especially those of African, Asian and Hispanic heritage. In addition, the special needs and responses to pharmaceutical treatment of these groups have been undervalued or ignored. This article reviews the genetic factors that underlie varying responses to medicines observed among different ethnic and racial groups. Pharmacogenetic research in the past few decades has uncovered significant differences among racial and ethnic groups in the metabolism, clinical effectiveness, and side-effect profiles of many clinically important drugs. These differences must be taken into account in the design of cost management policies such as formulary implementation, therapeutic substitution and step-care protocols. These programs should be broad and flexible enough to enable rational choices and individualized treatment for all patients, regardless of race or ethnic origin. (J Natl Med Assoc. 2002; 94:1–26.)
Key words: race l ethnicity l pharmaceuticals l pharmacogenomics
The recent report of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), “Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare,” illustrates in eloquent scientific detail that racial and ethnic disparities in health care do exist and are prevalent in both the treatment of medical illness and in the delivery of health care services to minorities in the United States.1 Of greater significance is the finding that these disparities still exist even after adjustment for differences in socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, income, age, comorbid conditions, expression of symptoms, and access-related factors. These disparities are not confined to any one aspect of the health care setting, and can even be found in the delivery of pharmaceutical services, which are under increasing cost control measures. Implicit in this transaction is the ultimate outcome of increased morbidity and mortality for African Americans and other minorities. This is mostly due to a diminished quality of medical care and health services, but also due to a predilection to avoid using better quality
NAMI has a plan in place to "treat" Natives - and people in other nations of non-white ethnicity. "Chapter Four Evaluating Your Outreach Efforts 127 Materials adapted from Outreach to African Americans and Hispanic Families: A Manual for NAMI Affiliates. Currently, Mental Health and Social Services......"Link
Shouldn't any plan which mentions "eliminating" and "Natives" be immediately suspect?
If "losing your mind" is a normal response to having your culture, community and country destroyed, what then? Has much really changed since the days of the Hiawatha Asylum?
"Celebrity Rehab" is the first television series to chronicle the real life experiences of a group of celebrities as they make the life-changing decision to enter themselves into a drug, alcohol, and addiction treatment program. They each have the sincere desire to achieve rehabilitation and recovery.
Leading the groups' efforts at recovery is renowned addiction expert Dr. Drew Pinsky, Medical Director of the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at Southern California's Las Encinas Hospital, and host of the long-running radio and television advice series "LOVELINE".
This inspirational journey begins inside one of Southern California's private addiction and recovery treatment facilities, the Pasadena Recovery Center. Each member of the group has committed themselves to a course of supervised medical treatment for a period of several weeks. At every step in this challenging process, viewers at home will witness the struggles of these celebrity patients, who reveal themselves to be regular people in need of a helping hand as they strive for recovery, health, and future happiness.
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