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1. Sexed-up Tamiflu email fury
Paul Flynn MP demanding answers
(Caption and pic courtesy of One Click)
The Government was at the centre of a new “sexed-up” dossier row last night involving Tamiflu. It came after a spin doctor played down its side effects by trying to alter an official Freedom Of Information (FOI) response. As we have previously revealed, the flu drug, given to more than a million Brits, has been linked to 435 different side effects, including psychiatric disorders and even deaths. But emails obtained by the Daily Star Sunday show how Department of Health chief press officer Kirsty Gelsthorpe asked to “revise” a crucial paragraph in the FOI response by adding the false claim that side effects were rare. An expert from the department and an official from medicines watchdog the MHRA overruled the amendment after pointing out side effects were common. But despite having no policy expertise her request did prompt a change in the response. And last night MPs and Freedom of Information campaigners described the press offic er’s interference as “outrageous”. Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, said he planned to write to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to demand answers.
Jonathan Corke, Daily Star
Related Links:
* Tamiflu Made My Kid Hallucinate. I Think the Flu is Preferable to Delirium
Bonnie Rochman, TIME
* 14 Year-Old Boy Jumps From Apartment Window After Taking Tamiflu
BERNAMA, Malaysian National News Agency
* Fatal Reactions And Injuries Occurring With Tamiflu 'Swine Flu' Drug
Jeremy Laurance, New Zealand Herald
* US reviews risks of Tamiflu after 12 children die
Jeremy Laurance, The Independent
2. Swine Flu vaccine has wrecked Jemma's life
Jenna Haide who lives in Clonmore South, near Cahir, Co Tipperary was given the swine flu vaccine two years ago to save her life, but it seems that fate has taken a peculiar turn in her life. What was seen as a life safer has indeed turned out to be a life changer. Now, she is a totally different child, as termed by her parents, as compared to two years ago. A year after she got her vaccine, she started to fall asleep at her desk at junior infant, twice or three times a day. According to her dad, Mark, she sometimes goes into deep sleep and wakes up with hallucinations two or three times a night. She also suffers from an added complication of cataplexy, in which her tongue hangs out and eyes are droopy. She is not the only one, and according to a report published by the Department of Health, there are 28 Irish children and adolescents like Jenna who have developed narcolepsy following the vaccination of swine Flu from 2009 onwards. The officials also clai m that this number could go even further up as all the cases have not yet been confirmed. A study also stated that youngsters who received the swine flu vaccine were at a 13-fold increased risk of developing the sleeping disorder. In this disorder, the sleep/wake regulating system in the brain malfunctions, which is why a person undergoes irregular sleep patterns.
Pallavi Sharma, Top News
Related Links:
* Ireland: Narcolepsy rate 13 fold higher after Pandemrix vaccine
Meryl Nass, MD
* Department defends indemnity deal with producers of swine flu vaccine
Carl O'Brien, Irish Times
3. Alex loved football -- now his life's been destroyed by Swine Flu vaccine
Alex Lawless loved nothing more than to tog out for a GAA match, but these days the seven-year-old is forced to look on from the sidelines because of exhaustion. Alex, from Kenilworth Square in Rathgar, Dublin, is one of the children who received the swine flu vaccine and later developed the disabling symptoms of the sleeping disorder, narcolepsy. His mother, Mairead, spoke last night of the heartbreak of witnessing the devastating change in her son which led to 12 months of tests and investigations before his diagnosis. Alex was found to have the incurable condition, which left him at the mercy of falling asleep suddenly and unexpectedly. "I am in no doubt that the swine flu vaccine led to his condition. He is now medicated and on the drug Ritalin. It helps to some extent and dulls the symptoms down a bit. If he was unmedicated he would sleep for two to three hours every afternoon, and apart from that there are dreadful nightmares and disturbed slee p. He also suffered weight gain and that has stabilised since he has gone on the drug. He goes to school every day but he sometimes falls asleep in class."
Eilish O'Regan, Independent.ie
4. Former Takeda Employee Links Actos to Epilepsy and Seizures
The controversial type 2 diabetes drug Actos has a strong link to suicide, schizophrenia, epilepsy and grand mal seizures when compared to its dangerous predecessor, additional claims in a federal whistleblower lawsuit said. Dr. Helen Ge, who once worked for the drug’s manufacturer Takeda Pharmaceuticals, said the rate of such occurrences in Actos patients is higher than that seen in patients who took drugs in the same class, such as Avandia. In March, Ge filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit, also claiming that Takeda repeatedly hid the drug’s ties to heart conditions and various types of cancer. Ge said Actos is in many ways more dangerous than its cousin drug Avandia, which was removed from the shelves several years ago because of heart attack risks. Both drugs are come from the same drug class, thiazolidinediones. She said that reports of serious psychiatric events, including suicide, delirium and homicidal ideals, were three to four times higher in Actos patients than reports regarding Avandia patients. She also said that Actos patients had reported having Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS), a rare, life threatening neurological disorder that is most often causes by a reaction to antipsychotic drugs. “Takeda’s motivation to fraudulently report and under report the serious adverse events were driven by an economic desire to falsely enhance Actos’ safety profile and to increase sales,” she said.
Barb Stephens, drugwatch
5. It's all in your Head
Every time I'm in hospital, I learn something. I met the lady in the wheelchair. Frequently admitted to intensive care, unable to breathe. Unable to walk, unable to eat, fed through a tube. But guess what? A consultant, somewhere way back in the mists of time had concluded she had "conversion disorder". You know what that means? Yup, you guessed it. It's "all in her head". Actually she just got a diagnosis, but that one doctor, all those years ago ensured that no-one would take her seriously for nearly a decade. And then there's me. 6 years of vomiting, 6 years of pain, tears on the way to school, delirious through long nights of misery. But I was "just" anorexic or "just" depressed. I was surely bullied at school or my parents beat me? Either way it was "all in my head". Do you know what that does to you? Do you know how much strength of character it takes to face 6 doctors, all stood around your be d and tell them you think they're wrong? To refuse a course of treatment you know is irrelevant? It doesn't stop with a diagnosis. Even with a label, you then have to justify your symptoms. If they don't fit neatly into the box the label came on, it must simply be "all in your head". You can spend all day telling a doctor you feel miserably nauseous, but if it isn't a symptom of your condition, he'll conclude it's "all in your head". You might be told that you "think about minor aches and pains too much". You can claim that a drug gives you a rash or a fever, but if it isn't a known side effect, the doctor will reassure you that it's "all in your head". Only when you find yourself with septicaemia will anyone begin to listen. Do doctors realise how dangerous this is? Doubting your patients, judging them, labelling them, is dangerous. But most of all it's cruel. It leaves scars deeper than any surgeon. Yet I've met precisely four people to talk to so far this stay and it was ALL "all in their heads". Unlikely, isn't it.
Sue Marsh, Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
6. In family courts, 'experts' are paid to get it horribly wrong
Rohan Wray and Chana Al-Alas were wrongly accused of the murder of their son.
Millions have been shocked by Friday’s story of the London couple who were charged, on flawed medical evidence, with having shaken their four-month-old son to death. The charges against the parents were dropped at the Old Bailey last December, but it was only last week that they finally won his sister back from social workers still determined to hold on to her. The reporting of this tragic case lifts a tiny corner of that veil of secrecy which has long hidden a crucial and disturbing flaw of our child protection system. This is the way that doctors are far too ready to report to social workers that children have probably been physically abused, and the readiness of family courts to endorse those suspicions on medical evidence which is not put properly to the test. All the indications are that hundreds of families are torn apart each year for similarly dubious reasons which never come to light. This appalling story follows the recent furore over the practices of Dr George Hibbert, whose company made nearly £500,000 in a year by supplying social workers with questionable psychological assessments of parents. That same week, a study by Prof Jane Ireland suggested that 90 per cent of these reports are compiled by people who earn their living by producing such assessments. Two thirds of the reports Prof Ireland sampled were, she found, of “poor” or “very poor” quality. Such “expert” testimony, however, from doctors and psychologists has become so endemic to our child protection system that it’s hard to imagine how it – or the judges who too readily accept it – can ever be called properly to account.
Christopher Booker, The Telegraph
7. Facebook used in one of five family court cases
Facebook pages are increasingly being used in Family Court proceedings.
Facebook pages are being used to discredit people in Family Court proceedings and one in five cases now feature photos or comments that have been posted online, lawyers say. Family law experts say social media sites are a form of character record and spouses are filing information from Facebook with the court through affidavits to discredit the other party. Tindall Gask Bentley partner and family law specialist Dina Paspaliaris said social media material was especially prevalent in custody disputes over children in both the Family and Federal Magistrates courts. "They have to be careful with what they are posting," Ms Paspaliaris said. Anything they're posting can be up for disclosure (to the court)." She said lawyers now warned clients about social media records being accepted by the courts. "(The material) is there, making an appearance in about 20 per cent of our files," Ms Paspaliaris said.
Candice Keller, The Advertiser, Adelaide Now
Paul Flynn MP demanding answers
(Caption and pic courtesy of One Click)
The Government was at the centre of a new “sexed-up” dossier row last night involving Tamiflu. It came after a spin doctor played down its side effects by trying to alter an official Freedom Of Information (FOI) response. As we have previously revealed, the flu drug, given to more than a million Brits, has been linked to 435 different side effects, including psychiatric disorders and even deaths. But emails obtained by the Daily Star Sunday show how Department of Health chief press officer Kirsty Gelsthorpe asked to “revise” a crucial paragraph in the FOI response by adding the false claim that side effects were rare. An expert from the department and an official from medicines watchdog the MHRA overruled the amendment after pointing out side effects were common. But despite having no policy expertise her request did prompt a change in the response. And last night MPs and Freedom of Information campaigners described the press offic er’s interference as “outrageous”. Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, said he planned to write to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to demand answers.
Jonathan Corke, Daily Star
Related Links:
* Tamiflu Made My Kid Hallucinate. I Think the Flu is Preferable to Delirium
Bonnie Rochman, TIME
* 14 Year-Old Boy Jumps From Apartment Window After Taking Tamiflu
BERNAMA, Malaysian National News Agency
* Fatal Reactions And Injuries Occurring With Tamiflu 'Swine Flu' Drug
Jeremy Laurance, New Zealand Herald
* US reviews risks of Tamiflu after 12 children die
Jeremy Laurance, The Independent
2. Swine Flu vaccine has wrecked Jemma's life
Jenna Haide who lives in Clonmore South, near Cahir, Co Tipperary was given the swine flu vaccine two years ago to save her life, but it seems that fate has taken a peculiar turn in her life. What was seen as a life safer has indeed turned out to be a life changer. Now, she is a totally different child, as termed by her parents, as compared to two years ago. A year after she got her vaccine, she started to fall asleep at her desk at junior infant, twice or three times a day. According to her dad, Mark, she sometimes goes into deep sleep and wakes up with hallucinations two or three times a night. She also suffers from an added complication of cataplexy, in which her tongue hangs out and eyes are droopy. She is not the only one, and according to a report published by the Department of Health, there are 28 Irish children and adolescents like Jenna who have developed narcolepsy following the vaccination of swine Flu from 2009 onwards. The officials also clai m that this number could go even further up as all the cases have not yet been confirmed. A study also stated that youngsters who received the swine flu vaccine were at a 13-fold increased risk of developing the sleeping disorder. In this disorder, the sleep/wake regulating system in the brain malfunctions, which is why a person undergoes irregular sleep patterns.
Pallavi Sharma, Top News
Related Links:
* Ireland: Narcolepsy rate 13 fold higher after Pandemrix vaccine
Meryl Nass, MD
* Department defends indemnity deal with producers of swine flu vaccine
Carl O'Brien, Irish Times
3. Alex loved football -- now his life's been destroyed by Swine Flu vaccine
Alex Lawless loved nothing more than to tog out for a GAA match, but these days the seven-year-old is forced to look on from the sidelines because of exhaustion. Alex, from Kenilworth Square in Rathgar, Dublin, is one of the children who received the swine flu vaccine and later developed the disabling symptoms of the sleeping disorder, narcolepsy. His mother, Mairead, spoke last night of the heartbreak of witnessing the devastating change in her son which led to 12 months of tests and investigations before his diagnosis. Alex was found to have the incurable condition, which left him at the mercy of falling asleep suddenly and unexpectedly. "I am in no doubt that the swine flu vaccine led to his condition. He is now medicated and on the drug Ritalin. It helps to some extent and dulls the symptoms down a bit. If he was unmedicated he would sleep for two to three hours every afternoon, and apart from that there are dreadful nightmares and disturbed slee p. He also suffered weight gain and that has stabilised since he has gone on the drug. He goes to school every day but he sometimes falls asleep in class."
Eilish O'Regan, Independent.ie
4. Former Takeda Employee Links Actos to Epilepsy and Seizures
The controversial type 2 diabetes drug Actos has a strong link to suicide, schizophrenia, epilepsy and grand mal seizures when compared to its dangerous predecessor, additional claims in a federal whistleblower lawsuit said. Dr. Helen Ge, who once worked for the drug’s manufacturer Takeda Pharmaceuticals, said the rate of such occurrences in Actos patients is higher than that seen in patients who took drugs in the same class, such as Avandia. In March, Ge filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit, also claiming that Takeda repeatedly hid the drug’s ties to heart conditions and various types of cancer. Ge said Actos is in many ways more dangerous than its cousin drug Avandia, which was removed from the shelves several years ago because of heart attack risks. Both drugs are come from the same drug class, thiazolidinediones. She said that reports of serious psychiatric events, including suicide, delirium and homicidal ideals, were three to four times higher in Actos patients than reports regarding Avandia patients. She also said that Actos patients had reported having Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS), a rare, life threatening neurological disorder that is most often causes by a reaction to antipsychotic drugs. “Takeda’s motivation to fraudulently report and under report the serious adverse events were driven by an economic desire to falsely enhance Actos’ safety profile and to increase sales,” she said.
Barb Stephens, drugwatch
5. It's all in your Head
Every time I'm in hospital, I learn something. I met the lady in the wheelchair. Frequently admitted to intensive care, unable to breathe. Unable to walk, unable to eat, fed through a tube. But guess what? A consultant, somewhere way back in the mists of time had concluded she had "conversion disorder". You know what that means? Yup, you guessed it. It's "all in her head". Actually she just got a diagnosis, but that one doctor, all those years ago ensured that no-one would take her seriously for nearly a decade. And then there's me. 6 years of vomiting, 6 years of pain, tears on the way to school, delirious through long nights of misery. But I was "just" anorexic or "just" depressed. I was surely bullied at school or my parents beat me? Either way it was "all in my head". Do you know what that does to you? Do you know how much strength of character it takes to face 6 doctors, all stood around your be d and tell them you think they're wrong? To refuse a course of treatment you know is irrelevant? It doesn't stop with a diagnosis. Even with a label, you then have to justify your symptoms. If they don't fit neatly into the box the label came on, it must simply be "all in your head". You can spend all day telling a doctor you feel miserably nauseous, but if it isn't a symptom of your condition, he'll conclude it's "all in your head". You might be told that you "think about minor aches and pains too much". You can claim that a drug gives you a rash or a fever, but if it isn't a known side effect, the doctor will reassure you that it's "all in your head". Only when you find yourself with septicaemia will anyone begin to listen. Do doctors realise how dangerous this is? Doubting your patients, judging them, labelling them, is dangerous. But most of all it's cruel. It leaves scars deeper than any surgeon. Yet I've met precisely four people to talk to so far this stay and it was ALL "all in their heads". Unlikely, isn't it.
Sue Marsh, Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
6. In family courts, 'experts' are paid to get it horribly wrong
Rohan Wray and Chana Al-Alas were wrongly accused of the murder of their son.
Millions have been shocked by Friday’s story of the London couple who were charged, on flawed medical evidence, with having shaken their four-month-old son to death. The charges against the parents were dropped at the Old Bailey last December, but it was only last week that they finally won his sister back from social workers still determined to hold on to her. The reporting of this tragic case lifts a tiny corner of that veil of secrecy which has long hidden a crucial and disturbing flaw of our child protection system. This is the way that doctors are far too ready to report to social workers that children have probably been physically abused, and the readiness of family courts to endorse those suspicions on medical evidence which is not put properly to the test. All the indications are that hundreds of families are torn apart each year for similarly dubious reasons which never come to light. This appalling story follows the recent furore over the practices of Dr George Hibbert, whose company made nearly £500,000 in a year by supplying social workers with questionable psychological assessments of parents. That same week, a study by Prof Jane Ireland suggested that 90 per cent of these reports are compiled by people who earn their living by producing such assessments. Two thirds of the reports Prof Ireland sampled were, she found, of “poor” or “very poor” quality. Such “expert” testimony, however, from doctors and psychologists has become so endemic to our child protection system that it’s hard to imagine how it – or the judges who too readily accept it – can ever be called properly to account.
Christopher Booker, The Telegraph
7. Facebook used in one of five family court cases
Facebook pages are increasingly being used in Family Court proceedings.
Facebook pages are being used to discredit people in Family Court proceedings and one in five cases now feature photos or comments that have been posted online, lawyers say. Family law experts say social media sites are a form of character record and spouses are filing information from Facebook with the court through affidavits to discredit the other party. Tindall Gask Bentley partner and family law specialist Dina Paspaliaris said social media material was especially prevalent in custody disputes over children in both the Family and Federal Magistrates courts. "They have to be careful with what they are posting," Ms Paspaliaris said. Anything they're posting can be up for disclosure (to the court)." She said lawyers now warned clients about social media records being accepted by the courts. "(The material) is there, making an appearance in about 20 per cent of our files," Ms Paspaliaris said.
Candice Keller, The Advertiser, Adelaide Now
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