Word: gormanic
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...doctors who bend the insurance companies' rules, according to the JAMA report, do it because they disagree with an HMO policy or restriction on care. "It's not difficult to be sympathetic to that impulse," says TIME medical writer Christine Gorman. "Often, doctors are faced with a judgment call: If a patient is going to be sent home to an empty house, with no one to take care of them, a physician may very well feel justified keeping the patient for one more night." And in fact, says Gorman, even doctors who admit to thumbing their noses at HMO guidelines...
...Christine Gorman...
...important to know the history of Rezulin before leveling any charges, says TIME medical writer Christine Gorman. "All prescription drugs have risks and benefits, and Rezulin was no different," she says. "Patients with liver problems had to be watched very carefully while taking this drug, but it helped a lot of people with diabetes." And that cost-benefit ratio played into the FDA's timing; the agency did not pull Rezulin until other, less toxic drugs became available...
Unfortunately for the FDA, this week's hardships are not unique. The agency is under enormous pressure from Congress and the public, says Gorman. "The FDA is expected to perform incredibly quickly - but not so quickly that they arouse suspicion," she says. They are also chronically understaffed and underfunded, she adds. So while the public's first instinct may be to blame the FDA for the apparent weaknesses in its approval process, perhaps the scrutiny would be better directed toward the congressional leaders holding the purse strings - and the means to more thorough regulation...
Last year my colleague Christine Gorman expressed skepticism in this space about a report that night-lights could trigger nearsightedness in infants. Now two follow-up studies have failed to prove the connection. For more information on night-lights, visit spectacle.berkeley.edu/cleere For more on dizziness, visit time.com/personal You can e-mail me at ianmedical@aol.com