“Dr. Phil Show”: How’s That Working Out For You?

According to WTHR, Dr. Phillip McGraw “regrets” discussing his “visit” with pop singer Brittany Spears.  Here is the background:

Spears, 26, was hospitalized in Los Angeles after a child custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline resulted in an hours-long standoff with police January 3. Federline has sole physical and legal custody of their two sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.

McGraw said he visited the pop singer as a family friend, and rejected critics who accused him of practicing psychology without a license.

This is what Dr. Phil has to say:

“I regret making the statement. It didn’t help. It didn’t work,” the syndicated TV psychologist said Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

…

“I did not go there to diagnose her. I did not go there to treat her,” said McGraw, who showed up at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on January 5 as Spears was about to be discharged.

McGraw said he retired his Texas license after 25 years of private practice because of the demands of his “Dr. Phil” daytime talk show.

The Spears family has accused McGraw of betraying their trust by making an “inappropriate” public statement about the singer’s hospitalization.

McGraw had told celebrity news TV shows that Spears was in “dire” need of medical and psychological help.

In an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday, McGraw said his public comments after visiting Spears were intended to prevent rumors and misinformation.

“I wanted to stop speculation about what may have gone on in there,” he said.

OK, whatever.  We all know he went there to get ratings for his pseudo-psychological show.  Anytime a person in the therapy, or psychological, field puts their needs in front of a person or family, in a professional situation, they act unethically.  Speaking of which, a formal complaint was filed in California over the incident.  The California Board of Psychology treats complaints as confidential, so we don’t know what will happen with this yet.  Interestingly, the complaint also alleges Dr. Phil violated Ms. Spears confidentiality rights under HIPA.  While the California complaint is a felony, the HIPA violation could result in federal charges.

Abused Children: Indiana’s Hmurovich

Yesterday a report was released by Prevent Child Abuse America.  It calls for more federal money to be made available for “Federal” foster care support and prevention services.  Sounds good.  Unfortunately, the CEO of the organization is none other than James Hmurovich.  Those who have been around the “welfare” system long enough remember he was in charge of a former incarnation of Family and Children’s Services, where he attempted to do the same thing.   What happened when he was in Indiana is prevention services went up, BUT they were used INSTEAD of foster care services.  The reason?  It is much more cost effective to keep children in their homes than in foster care.  This led to many dangerous situations and the calls for welfare reforms implemented by Governor Daniels.  Looks like Mr. Hmurovich wants to screw up the whole country.  Under his current proposal, he wants to “reward” states for decreasing the number of children in foster care.  Doesn’t look like he learned his lesson from screwing up Indiana.  Here is a summary of what the Indianapolis Star had to say:

A report released Tuesday by Prevent Child Abuse America and Kids Are Waiting, a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, calls for more emphasis and spending on programs that prevent child abuse and neglect. It calls for policy changes to:

• Ensure a sufficient, flexible and reliable federal resource to help continue services needed by at-risk children and families.

• Reward states for safely reducing the number of children in foster care and achieving all forms of permanence.

• Make all abused and neglected children eligible for federal foster care support.

Lilly Changing Marketing Payment Scheme?

The only authority for this is Dr. Daniel Carlat, who publishes the Carlat Psychiatry Blog.  Rather than try to summarize, here is his article:

Eli Lilly “Slashes” Hired Gun Payments in Response to Dr. Drug Rep

One of my moles in the upper echelons of the pharmaceutical industry informed me that officials at Eli Lilly are changing some payment policies to hired guns in response to the article, Dr. Drug Rep.

Prepare to be underwhelmed.

The officials involved were apparently discussing the negative publicity generated by the article, and decided to put a more stringent cap on their payments to physicans who hawk their drugs to other doctors. In the past, there was a $100,000/year maximum for regular talks, with an option of tacking on an extra $50,000 for certain “brand-specific” talks, such as talks specifically relating to Zyprexa or Cymbalta. So the maximum was $150,000 per year, and many doctors were happily maxing out at that figure. Reportedly, Lilly is worried that allowing physicians to make “6 figures” for whoring themselves appears unseemly, so as of 2009, the total cap will be slashed to…drum roll please…$75,000/year. That’s only 5 figures.

The physicians affected are unlikely to be hitting the welfare rolls soon, however, as they might be able to make up this lifestyle-threatening shortfall by engaging in a novel professional activity–treating patients.

Judge Currie Gets Probation

In an update to my post here, Carroll Circuit Court Judge Donald Currie received probation, will have his driver’s license restricted, and will have to pay court costs due to a recent charge of Public Intoxication.  Here is the full story, from the Carroll County Comet.

Carroll Circuit Court Judge Donald Currie pled not guilty at an initial hearing Dec. 26 after being arrested for public intoxication Dec. 23 in Boone County. A bench trial was scheduled for March at the initial hearing, but Currie then scheduled a plea agreement for Feb. 19. However, that date was moved up when Currie pled and was found guilty in Boone County Superior Court II by Judge Rebecca McClure Jan. 22.

According to the Lebanon Reporter, Currie was found guilty of a Class B misdemeanor and issued a 180-day suspended sentence with credit given for his day in the Boone County Jail. Currie was ordered to pay $450 legal fees and his drivers’ license was restricted.

Currie’s case could be investigated by the Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission concerning judicial conduct violations. According to Meg Babcock, supervisor for the counsel to the commission, that process is completely separate from the court case and is not a matter of public record until the time formal charges are filed with the Indiana Supreme Court.

“There is a lot the commission can do short of filing charges,” Babcock said.

She said there could be no investigation, suspension from office without pay and other remedies which include fines, removal from office or disbarment. She called removal from office the “ultimate sanction.” Babcock said the Indiana Supreme Court would be the entity to decide upon the sanction if charges were filed. The commission would be making a recommendation to that court.

Babcock referred the Comet to two similar cases investigated by the commission in the past two years. In both cases, the judges stipulated to the facts of the cases and their “misconduct.” Both were issued a “public reprimand” for their behavior.

Autism and Vaccines: Pediatricians Speak Out

This from the Evansville Courier Press:

The nation’s largest pediatricians’ group on Monday said ABC should cancel the first episode of a new series because it perpetuates the myth that vaccines can cause autism.

ABC’s new drama, “Eli Stone,” debuts Thursday. It features British actor Jonny Lee Miller as a prophetlike lawyer who in the opening episode argues in court that a flu vaccine made a child autistic. When it is revealed in court that an executive at the fictional vaccine maker didn’t allow his own child to get the shot, jurors side with the family, giving them a huge award.

…

“If parents watch this program and choose to deny their children immunizations, ABC will share in the responsibility for the suffering and deaths that occur as a result. The consequences of a decline in immunization rates could be devastating to the health of our nation’s children,” Jenkins said in a statement.

Autism is a complex disorder featuring repetitive behaviors and poor social interaction and communication skills. Scientists generally believe that genetics plays a role in causing the disorder; a theory that a mercury-based preservative once widely used in childhood vaccines is to blame has been repeatedly discounted in scientific studies.

Remember folks, this is a fictional series. Sometimes the whole “bad things happen to good people” way of thinking is too much to handle. We look for reasons and people to blame because the real explanation is too difficult to accept. However, please don’t forgo vaccinating your child, as it is a proven way to make sure they will never develop a myriad of diseases, because of some theory that has little, if any basis in fact or research.

Keith Edwards Launches New Blog

Those in the Fort Wayne area will no doubt be pleased to learn former anchorman Keith Edwards is launching a new blog. Titled Anchormanedwards it looks like Keith will tackle a variety of issues. The Blogmeister wishes Keith well in this new endeavor. If one wishes to see the site it can be found here:

http://anchormanedwards.blogspot.com/

or in my link section.

Good Luck Keith!

Zyprexa, Cymbalta Fuel Growth for Lilly

From the Indianapolis Star:

Driven by solid sales of its antidepressant Cymbalta, Indianapolis drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. today said fourth-quarter profits grew to $854.4 million and 78 cents per share, beating many analysts’ estimates.

Earnings jumped six-fold from the same period in 2006, when Lilly recorded income of $132.3 million and 12 cents per share as it took a big charge to settle claims with patients who said they were harmed by Lilly’s Zyprexa schizophrenia drug.

But showing how little harmed it was by that publicity, Lilly said Zyprexa sales were again No. 1 in its sales lineup, accounting for $1.27 billion. Cymbalta was next up with $628.3 million. Overall, its sales increased 16 percent to $5.19 billion.

“Lilly completed a very successful year by continuing to deliver strong financial results to our shareholders in the fourth quarter,” said CEO and chairman Sidney Taurel. “Our additional investment in sales and marketing helped fuel accelerated double-digit sales growth.”

Britney Spears: Has “Mental Issues”

This from her manager.  Gee, ya think?  The whole article is on WTHR, but here is and excerpt:

Barbara Walters says she has been contacted by Britney Spears’ manager and “very good friend,” Sam Lutfi, who says the pop singer has seen a psychiatrist.

Lutfi told her the 26-year-old pop singer “is suffering from what he describes as mental issues which are treatable,” Walters said Monday on ABC’s “The View.”

“He said that she has been to a psychiatrist and that she, I assume, is starting some kind of treatment,” said Walters, a co-host on the ABC daytime talk show.

“She has been having mood swings. She’s been having trouble sleeping, and also she is in touch with her mother – ’cause we had heard she wasn’t – and her mother has been very supportive of whatever it is that Britney is going to do,” Walters said.

Lutfi has been staying with Spears constantly, “and he got in touch with us,” Walters said. “I can’t vouch for this, he seemed to be very knowledgeable and he certainly was very nice.”

Spears’ attorney, Sorrell Trope, didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment Monday. Spears’ spokeswoman at Jive Records, Gina Orr, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Sen. Amos Thomas Updates Condition

This is from the Brazil Times:

Indiana State Rep. Amos Thomas (R-Brazil) recently called The Brazil Times to update his recent status regarding surgery.

Thomas — who represents District 44 — informed The Times Monday he is currently rehabbing after a few surgeries following a laminectomy in December.

“I’ve been going through various procedures and operations,” Thomas said via phone call Monday. “I’ve been on medication to the extent where I was very, very uncomfortable.”

…

“I’ve been kind of out of it for a great amount of time,” he said Monday. “But there’s a good possibility I could get out of here by the end of the week.

“It looks like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

However, Thomas said he may be restricted to home and is uncertain when he will be able to get back to his duties as a legislator.

“There’s a little blip on the radar screen that is a minor problem,” Thomas said. “The only question is how long (will doctors) restrict me to home.”

…

Thomas said although he hasn’t been involved in the current state session, he hasn’t missed any “big” votes.

The current legislative session is set to conclude in March.

Thomas has yet to file for re-election. The filing deadline for state positions is noon, Feb. 22.

Currently, three people have filed for candidacy for District 44, including Republican Duane Conover and Democrats Richard Thompson and Nancy Michael.

The interested reader may view my past post here and here for background on the Senator’s condition.  The Blogmeister continues to wish the Senator a speedy recovery.

Mental Health: Fourth Most Expensive Condition to Treat

Wow, I was really surprised when I read this today.  It’s a study estimating the top 10 most expensive health conditions.  It has the usual…heart conditions and cancer are numbers 1 and 3, respectively, but “Mental disorders, including depression”  came in at number 4 with an estimated cost of 56 billion.  I found that hard to believe because Therapists, Psychologists, and Psychiatrists don’t make anything near what a cardiologist or oncologist does.  Then I saw this:

The money paid for visits to doctor’s offices, clinics and emergency departments, hospital stays, home health care and prescription medicines [were included].

Okay, I get it now.  Most of the money in Mental Health care goes to hospitals, emergency departments and prescription medications.  This is due to the public perception they can handle any situation, or take a pill,  and do not seek help early.  When people figure out this strategy is usually ineffective, they usually end up in an emergency room or hospital, where the costs are astronomical.  This “solution” is vastly more expensive than outpatient therapy.  As an aside, most therapists, this one included, do not consider ER and hospital admissions treatment, but crisis management.  With those factors included, the numbers make sense.  If costs for “mental disorders including depression” are ever reduced, a correlating change in perception among the public would also have to occur.  In that regard, Mental Health is no different from any of the other conditions cited, where prevention and early detection is paramount to decreasing costs.