Kennedy’s work is long overdue, and of course welcome. Holding corrupt pharmas to account and reining in greed are absolutely vital. However, if the IMA’s agenda is to be realised and patient care truly improved, I feel doing one single thing would achieve this.
It’s simple, but not easy.
Find a way to protect innocent, well-meaning health care practitioners from litigious patients, to the degree necessary that would allow them to, for instance, prescribe off-label and/or repurposed medications and treatments.
It is a very strong point. I don’t know how many times I’ve thought along these lines. I realize doctors, just like anyone else, want to keep their jobs. And so, sticking to the “script”, sticking to those double-blind placebo studies that can be pointed to in a court of law, if necessary, define the latitude that many doctors are willing to take in their practice. Then you have the very few who define the future of medicine by stepping out on a limb to ask questions of themselves and of their field of expertise. Somewhere in all of this is an opportunity to improve our healthcare system.
