Dr David Healy – Real World Visionary and Delightful House Guest
Dr Healy recently visited the Isle of Man to present at the educational facility of Noble’s Hospital. He covered the 77,000 pages intentionally hidden from scrutiny in the infamous ‘clinical trial’ known as: Study 329. The best question from the audience focussed on what continues to go wrong in such ‘trials’ and on ‘Regulatory Capture’. Dr Healy is an internationally respected psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, scientist and author, having originally studied medicine in Dublin and Cambridge University. He is the author of 20 books including Let Them Eat Prozac and Pharmageddon.
We are at a crossroads of healthcare unaffordability. It is also at a crossroads where an unbiased patient view of adverse drug interactions is ever more pressing. By leveraging social media the patient voice is now amplified ever louder, across the Globe and in real time. The age of the Citizen Scientist is truly with us. Sixty years ago the horrors of thalidomide took five years to be publically recognised. Today such horrors would be identified in weeks not years – more so by sites such as RxISK, an adverse medical events website co-founded by Dr Healy. With a strapline of “could it be my med’s” David knows better than most how a new model could take root. It will be amongst open minded communities who give full voice to patient experiences. Yes, we now know it can be your med’s.
That no two medications have been trialled in combination in an independent clinical study surprises us all. The patient guinea pig model is firmly entrenched and in plain sight but IS routinely ignored or glossed over. A laudable aim would be to de-prescribe medications so that patients are only prescribed a small handful of drugs at any one time… Less really is more in the area of those unknowable and highly personal drug interactions.
Sadly it is the difficulty of ‘drug withdrawal’ once drugs are prescribed, that is proving so long term, problematical. As the Eagles song Hotel California puts it: “you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave” as they forewarn us. A more caring tune needs to be written but it will need a newer breed of less ‘Regulatory Captured’ songwriters.
To watch the video, please click on the link below.