Singularity Health Law Blog

“”BEAUTIFUL” MASS. M.D./J.D ONLY SUSPENDED J.D.

 

 In 2009 Susan Friery, M.D./J.D. appeared in a Boston Magazine Article as one of the beautiful Massachusetts lawyers of 2009. Her picture in a yoga stance with her dog was a prominent feature of the article. She was in fact beautiful, but not in fact a Medical Doctor.  The dog so far as we are aware is apparently a real dog, although has been difficult to confirm. She served as an associate and partner in the law firm of Kreindler & Kreindler, although she has since left the firm. She is described in the article as having participated in mass disaster litigation including the Pan Am Lockerbie litigation and medical malpractice cases. The article can be accessed at the following.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/gallery/101508_lawyers?pg=2 

DENTAL PATIENT SEEKS EXTRACTION FROM “SILENCER” CONTRACT.

There are a number of “silencer” contracts that have been marketed to dental and medical professionals as a means of keeping bad reviews from patients off of the internet.  Typically these agreements provide that in exchange for maintaining the confidentiality of the patient’s medical records the patient agrees not to make any critical reviews of the professional services received on the internet. These agreements also sometimes provide that the patient assigns his or her future intellectual property rights in reviews of the professional to the professional so that the professional can require web sites to “take down” adverse reviews.

 

HEALTH MANDATE, RON PAUL AND THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNITY VALUES.

The Republican Candidate’s debate last week with all of the emphasis on who is and will be the darling of the Tea Party graphically underscored the American value creep of the past four decades away from what used to be community responsibility. Rep. Paul, a physician, continues to rail against the “individual mandate” in the Health Reform legislation enacted by Congress and signed by Mr. Obama in 2009.  He views it as a slap in the face of individual rights, because it curtails personal freedom by removing the personal freedom to choose to remain uninsured, whatever the consequences.  Moderator, Wolf Blitzer, posed the question to him that if a healthy 30 year old chose not to obtain insurance but was suddenly confronted with an unexpected need for medical assistance, should be be denied treatment?  

 

PERSONAL ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS ESSENTIAL

Dying is a messy business.  Having watched my father endure the process involving three hospitals and a SNF in the final month, I have been impressed with the primitive nature of medical record keeping today even in the most efficient and effective of medical institutions.  My father had a long history of problems with bleeding ulcers resulting in extreme surgery to remove most of his stomach.  Lately he had been under the care of an HMO with a Medicare plan. There was no central depository of his medical records.  One of the facilities, the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, sought valiantly to locate all of his recent records, but limited staff in other facilities resulted in significant delays in obtaining vital information.

 

YELPING DENTIST BIT BY FEDERAL COMPUTER DECENCY LAW.

     Glen Reit, D.D.S. a dentist practicing in Manhattan received a number of favorable reviews from the online consumer reviewing service, “Yelp.”  All was well until an anonymous post by a “Michael S.” described his office as “small,” “old,” and “smelly.”   Judging from the name of the web site, there was an expected short, sharp, painful cry by either the reviewer or perhaps the reviewed. The post described Dr. Reit’s office equipment as “old” and “dirty.”  Dr. Reit leaped to the courts to obtain an injunction requiring the removal by Yelp of the offending review.  He claimed a substantial reduction in patient appointments. Yelp apparently removed the good reviews and kept the unfavorable review posted for a while.

FDA NO FACEBOOK “FRIEND” OF NOVARTIS (PART II)

    The FDA’s citation to Novartis last week for violations of Federal Law in its use of Facebook “Share” button on its Tasigna website without proper disclosures in the meta tagging, underscore recent concerns about big pharma use of social media and Internet technology to market product. On March 1, 2010, the Center for Digital Democracy an on-line consumer watchdog sent a letter to the FDA requesting that it join the FTC in developing rules for the use of behavioral targeting in on-line marketing and the undertaking of a comprehensive investigation into the use and impact of digital marketing techniques and technologies.

FDA NO FACEBOOK “FRIEND” OF NOVARTIS (PART I)

    On July 29, 2010, the FDA issued its first social media traffic ticket to Novartis’ meta data link connected to the “share” button on its Tasigna web site. The feature allows consumers to send Novartis created information about its drug products such as Tasigna to “friends” of the consumers via the news feed. The FDA cited four separate violations  of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act in the metadata.  First, the meta data omitted the risk factors with respect to the drug. Second, the meta data effectively broadened the indication for the use of the drug by not including its limitations by the the FDA (i.e. chronic phase and accelerated phase myelogenous leukemia resistant to prior therapy). Third, unsubstantiated superiority references (“ next generation”). Fourth, failure to submit form 2253 regarding the disclosure of promotional content.