Sunday, September 02, 2007

More: Drug Companies Employ Ethics-Challenged Docs

The St. Petersburg Times exposed a couple of Florida psychiatrists today in an article entitled:
Who's judging drugs?
St. Petersburg Times
September 2, 2007
"You might think that when pharmaceutical companies hire a doctor to test new drugs, they automatically would reject someone disciplined for "gross or repeated malpractice." You would be wrong. A St. Petersburg Times analysis of public databases identified several doctors who have conducted clinical trials despite run-ins with the Florida Board of Medicine. "
Clinical trial - a process in which a medication or other medical treatment is tested for its safety and effectiveness

The Times wrote about:
Psychiatrist Serge Vilvar of North Miami Beach
Reprimanded, fined $50,000, suspended for 6 months, and put on a 1 year probation after the Florida Health Department found that he gave $3-million worth of unnecessary therapy to at least 14 patients. He worked on clinical trials after the Health Department initiated disciplinary action.

Psychiatrist Abbey Strauss of Boca Raton
Fined $15,000 for prescribing painkillers to a patient in excessive and inappropriate quantities which endangered the patient's health
Strauss has also conducted clinical trials after the Health Department initiated disciplinary action.

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