SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

When government has its hands in your medicine

Apr 7, 2017, 4:52 PM

medicine...

Pills. (Oliver.Dodd, Flickr)

(Oliver.Dodd, Flickr)

Do you know that, courtesy of government rules, your doctor doesn’t receive the full information about medicine available to you? Because it’s illegal?

It is illegal for a pharmaceutical company to tell your doctor about a legal, alternative use for medicine.

RELATED: Why the profit motive belongs in health care

So, let’s say you have a vascular condition. And there is a drug that was originally designed for acne, but that drug for acne can be used for this vascular condition. In fact, it’s been legally approved for vascular use. But it is still illegal for a pharmaceutical representative to inform your doctor about that.

About 20 percent of prescriptions in America can be used “off label,” which means they can be used for other ailments.

When people speak about the free market costs in health care, they don’t see the government costs with their insane rules. There are drugs that are already available and side effects fully understood, yet, doctors aren’t allowed to know about these alternative uses.

Why is this illegal? Because the FDA wants it to be illegal; they want a new drug to be developed.

And did you know that during your “free” preventive examine built into Obamacare, that if your doctor finds something wrong with you that is not covered by the exam, they are not allowed to tell you?

That is government medicine!

As always, please listen to the full audio clip for complete context.

Please follow our Community Guidelines

Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the fore...

Associated Press

Asian stocks are mixed after Wall Street slips following Fed’s rate hike decision

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after Wall Street closed lower following the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike decision for the first time in three years. U.S. futures were higher. The quarter of a percentage point increase brings the Fed’s key rate to a target range of 3.75%-4.00%, as it attempts […]

3 hours ago

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections on June 11, 2026, shows...

Associated Press

Alabama set to execute man for pawn shop killings months after his nitrogen gas execution blocked

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is set to execute a man Thursday night via lethal injection, three months after a judge’s ruling blocked the state from putting him to death with nitrogen gas. Jeffery Lee, 49, is scheduled to receive an injection beginning at 6 p.m. at south Alabama’s William C. Holman Correctional Facility for […]

5 hours ago

The exterior of the federal courthouse is seen March 27, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thaye...

Associated Press

Former Syrian official convicted of torture under Assad faces sentencing in the US

A former Syrian military official convicted of torturing prisoners during President Bashar Assad’s regime is facing a possible decades-long prison sentence in the U.S. A federal judge in Los Angeles is scheduled to sentence Samir Ousman Alsheikh on Thursday. A jury found him guilty in March of one count of conspiracy to commit torture and […]

5 hours ago

A visitor stands near a display about AI during the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China on July ...

Associated Press

A global AI safety strategy depends on US-China cooperation. They each see the other as the problem

HONG KONG (AP) — As concern rises over the risks of artificial intelligence, hopes for any kind of global approach depend on cooperation between the U.S. and China — superpowers that seem only to be more skeptical of each other’s AI strategy. AI governance is expected to be on the agenda in a meeting planned […]

5 hours ago

An aerial view of the aftermath of a news helicopter that crashed in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in ...

Associated Press

LA news helicopter crashed in birthplace (and, arguably, epicenter) of ‘eye-in-the-sky’ reporting

Los Angeles has been viewed from above by news helicopters for nearly seven decades. When there was a wildfire, a mudslide or O.J. Simpson fleeing the police across its ribbons of highway, an “eye in the sky” tracked it and advised millions how to keep out of harm’s way. On Tuesday, one of those flying […]

5 hours ago

FILE - The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone in front of an image generated by ChatGPT's Dal...

Associated Press

OpenAI flags new concerning AI behavior, to track model misalignment regularly

OpenAI has disclosed six reports of “unexpected or concerning” behavior in artificial-intelligence models as the debate on AI safety becomes increasingly heated. The AI company also said Wednesday it was introducing a new framework for tracking, probing and disclosing AI model misalignment instances, such as new ways for the models to act without authorization, coordinate […]

5 hours ago

When government has its hands in your medicine