Overdose Death Notices Plus Guidance Sink Opioid Prescribing
Physicians who received a letter from a medical examiner about a patient’s fatal overdose — along with suggested guidance for future visits for pain — prescribed fewer opioids, according to a cluster randomized controlled trial. Doctors who received the death notice plus guidance had a drop in weekly morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) pre- to post-intervention […]
FDA Warns Amazon Over Supplements Containing Erectile Dysfunction Drugs
The FDA hit Amazon with a warning letter on December 20 for distributing energy supplements for men that contain potentially harmful pharmaceutical ingredients. These products, according to the letter, “are labeled as energy enhancing supplements or food, but laboratory analyses confirmed that they contained undeclared and potentially harmful active pharmaceutical ingredients.” The FDA held Amazon […]
Another Online SARMs Retailer Gets a Warning From the FDA
The FDA issued a warning letter to an online retailer selling multiple selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) earlier this month, in an ongoing effort to curb their use in consumers, the agency said. This recent letter advised a California-based company, known as Warrior Labz SARMS, and its owner, Jeremy Brown, to stop actively marketing SARMs […]
CDC, FDA Heads Fire Back at Ladapo Letter
The heads of the FDA and CDC sent a scathing 4-page letter to Florida’s Surgeon General warning him that his stance on COVID-19 vaccines is “harmful.” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, responded to a letter sent to them last month by Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD, […]
Letter on Patient’s Fatal Overdose May Curb Benzodiazepine Prescribing
Physicians who received a letter from a medical examiner notifying them of a recent patient’s fatal overdose prescribed fewer benzodiazepines, a secondary analysis of clinical trial data showed. Daily 2-mg diazepam pill equivalents decreased more in an intervention group that received a medical examiner letter and injunction to prescribe safely compared with a control group […]
Kansas State Senator Implies Bill on Controversial COVID Therapies Passed
In a letter sent to hospitals and healthcare clinics earlier this week, Mark Steffen, MD, a state senator from Kansas, seemed to suggest a bill that would remove restrictions on the use of treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 had already passed. “With the recent passage of Senate substitute for HB 2280 … there […]
Opinion | Coping With Rejection Requires Resilience
My first serious rejection in life came in the form of a letter — a rejection letter from medical school. All 10 I’d applied to in fact. I wasn’t expecting to be shut out from my chosen profession. So, I regrouped, and I was accepted into medical school the second time around. I guess you […]
Are Nurse Staffing Agencies Overcharging Hospitals?
A group of U.S. senators and representatives penned a letter to the COVID-19 Response Team and other agencies on Wednesday, urging them to investigate allegations of overpricing by nurse staffing agencies relied on to fill gaps in hospital staffing during the pandemic. In the letter, Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), and […]