Insights

<p>The decision by Astra Zeneca to stop the so-called <a href="http://www.drugs.com/clinical_trials/crestor-outcomes-study-jupiter-clo…; trial of its Crestor cholesterol medication last year garnered a ton of press attention. The New York Times captured the general tone of the coverage with this lead on a front-page story. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/i1000.pdf">Initia… 1000</a>, the so-called "Death with Dignity Act," took effect in Washington state on March 5, after being approved by voters in November. And it has put hospitals in a strange position. Hospitals are considered the place where doctors and staff do everything in their power to keep a person alive. Now hospitals are being asked to allow their patients to kill themselves.

<p>Dr. Neil Hollander of Huntington Beach, Calif., looked to be just another doctor who had misplaced his notes in November 2003 when he agreed to settle a Medical Board of California case by taking a record keeping course. </p>

<p>The catastrophic 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Italy, the recent 4.3 temblor near San Jose and a rash of small quakes in Southern California made me wonder about something I haven't thought about in quite a while: What's going on with hospital seismic safety in quake-prone California? We're already overdue for "the big one."</p>

<p>If you do a Google News search for the word "octomom," you will get more than 4,000 results on most days. </p><p>What is lost in much of the coverage of <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/03/hospital-staff-fired… Suleman</a> and her expanding brood is how completely expected this all should be. No one should be surprised that a woman with six kids could order up another eight more or that she could find a doctor willing to help her. </p>

<p>Public hospitals have been closing at an alarming rate. Last month, the troubled <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-week15-2009mar15,0,7991787.stor… Luther King Jr. Medical Center</a> in Los Angeles announced it was preparing to reopen after years of quality concerns, but it has lived on the precipice for more than two decades.

<p>Even the most curious of Dr. Barbara Philipp's patients probably didn't notice that she had a drug problem. </p><p>That's because her patients were kids. </p><p>The <a href="http://www.massmedboard.org/public/">Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine</a> wrote in its disciplinary <a href="http://www.massmedboard.org/public/pdf/philipp20090225.pdf">report</a&gt; that the 55-year-old Boston pediatrician wrote fake prescriptions for family members and friends just to get painkillers and sleeping pills for herself. </p>

<p>Six of the world's biggest drug companies are about to be winnowed down to three. If all the mergers go through, we will have Pfizer-Wyeth, Merck-Schering-Plough and Roche-Genentech controlling more than $100 billion in drug sales every year - amounting to one seventh of all revenues for drug companies worldwide. (I wrote a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-merck10-2009mar10,0,1530157.story…; about this a couple weeks ago for the Los Angeles Times.)</p>

<p>This UCI orthopedic <a href="http://www.charlesrosenmd.com/">surgeon</a&gt; is on the shortlist for the U.S. Surgeon General job. He has been an outspoken critic of medical device companies and is fighting to limit the influence of money on medicine.</p><p>Here is a recap of our conversation:</p><p>Q: You were in Washington last year testifying before Congress about doctors who are paid by companies to put in certain medical devices. Did they understand why you were so concerned about this? </p>

<p><i>When the <a href="http://www.peanutcorp.com/">Peanut Corporation of America</a> recalled thousands of peanut butter products in January for fear they were tainted with salmonella, news organizations all over the country rushed to local stores to find out what where PCA products were being sold. </i><i>Justina Wang, 25, a recent Northwestern University grad who works at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, went a step further.