With the new set of guidelines, netting 45-million more Americans into the new and improved "prehypertension" category, there should be no illusions for anyone that there is not a giant coalition of health professionals and pharmaceutical companies that would like to see nearly every American on some sort of prescription medication.
The ridiculously low guidelines are quite obviously designed to scare people with perfectly good blood pressure into thinking they need medication and need it right now.
Anyone who has sat in a doctor's office and seen the drug company reps waiting with their free lunches for the physicians knows that these new guidelines are just the tip of the iceberg in the conspiracy to frighten and bully people into taking multiple prescription drugs for the slightest health problem.
This cabal of pharmaceutical companies/government agencies/physicians has also arbitrarily lowered "safe" guidelines for such things as triglycerides in the blood in recent years. And as the "guidelines" tighten, the number of prescription drugs in everyone's medicine cabinet goes up.
It appears that the goal, as we see dozens of prescription commercials each evening on TV, is to have everyone over the age of 12 in the United States taking at least one prescription drug, and preferably, many.
Did I say over 12? Excuse me, I forgot about Ritalin.
-- Douglas Spangler, Palm Harbor
Expanding the customer base
Re: A new normal for blood pressure, May 15.
-- Oh, that's just great. Public health officials now tell us that a blood pressure reading of 120/80 is no longer considered "normal," but, rather "prehypertension." So, for all these years, I have been deluding myself into thinking I need not worry about high blood pressure. That's, well, disheartening.
To make matters worse, this news comes with the "stern warning" that 45-million adults - one in five - "are to be considered at higher risk for heart disease and stroke." Wait a minute. This means that the goal for my eating right and exercising regularly was, in fact, the "danger zone." That's terrible. The original guideline is not a wrong answer on a test that can be erased and corrected. We're talking about human lives, not the SATs.
Well, we really shouldn't be surprised with this news. It seems a day doesn't go by without a change in medical advice (see: cholesterol, fat, etc.). If medical recommendations keep changing, why should any of us believe now what might change later? Revision does not engender confidence. Please, get it right.
At the risk of sounding cynical, could it be that the pharmaceutical industry is behind this change? Lowering the guidelines can expand the customer base for medications to control high blood pressure. And, new pharmacies are sprouting like dandelions everywhere you look. Could it be?
-- Jack Bray, Dunedin
A scare campaign for profit
Re: Canada assures safety of its drugs, May 8.
I find the recent news reports and comments regarding the safety of medications from Canada a scare campaign launched for the sake of profit under the guise of public safety.
The Canadian government has officially said that it will be responsible for the safety and quality of the imported drugs to the United States. In an official document the first week of May, the Canadian Health Ministry said all drugs must be equally safe and effective whether they are for Canadian use or for export. FDA commissioner Mark McClellan expressed his appreciation for Health Canada "stepping up to this difficult challenge" when in actuality Canada's version of the FDA, Health Canada, has been regulating and inspecting its imported medicines as well as its pharmacies routinely for years.
Scare tactics by Larry Kocot of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores reporting that Canadian Drugs are not as safe as American drugs because they are manufactured in India and China as well as other Third World countries are unfounded. Pharmaceutical giants such as Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Glaxosmithkline boast about global manufacturing, taking advantage of reduced labor costs and tax incentives by operating plants in Puerto Rico, Africa, China, India, Brazil, Pakistan and other foreign locations. Each one of these drug companies will attest to the quality, safety and high standard of production for their individual plants, which are inspected regularly by their own corporate quality assurance departments.
If the pharmaceutical companies maintain a consistent standard of FDA compliance, then where is the worry of quality and safety? The popular drug Fosamax is a Merck product here in America and Canada. Would the FDA and Kocot have us believe that Merck would sell inferior products to everyone but the United States? That, indeed, Merck does not have a consistent standard of quality and safety regarding its products? It would be difficult to believe that the only welfare these drug companies care about is America's.
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores may be more concerned about its members' bottom line than the actual health and financial welfare of the customers who have built their businesses.
-- Peggy Emhardt, Spring Hill
Employers and employees will lose
The governor and Legislature are now poised to finally eviscerate Florida's workers' compensation system.
I have been an attorney for 30 years. Over those years, a small part of my practice (less than 5 percent) has involved workers' compensation claims. I have represented both employer and employees.
The workers' compensation law began as a tradeoff. The employee gave up his right to sue his employer for damages suffered in the workplace in return for guaranteed payment of part of his wage loss and medical treatment by doctors chosen by the employer. Almost annually, the insurance industry has successfully chipped away at the employees' benefits and, at the same time, raised premiums for employers.
Now, the benefits proposed by the industry-written legislation have been emasculated, but coverage remains mandatory for any employer with more than three employees. The employer will get no relief from high premiums, and the employee has lost his right to redress in the courts for his injury in the workplace.
How have we come to this?
The insurance industry's success (raising prices and reducing benefits) has been based on an alleged "insurance crisis." This crisis is based on data provided by NCCI Inc., which calculates the cost of claims for the insurance industry. NCCI Inc. is an organization controlled by the insurance industry. NCCI Inc.'s cost data are derived from the insurance companies without independent audit.
Just as we have learned that there needs to be transparency in the stock market, there needs to be transparency in the insurance industry. Cost data should be based on information that is independently audited and sworn to by the executives of the insurance industry. The governor and the Legislature should not reduce employee benefits until we are assured that there is in fact an "insurance crisis" and that this is not just another way for the insurance industry to further line its pockets.
-- Paul C. Scherer, St. Petersburg
Don't victimize her twice
Re: Governor orders a guardian for fetus, May 14.
What happened to this woman is an atrocity, and instead of trying to find the rapist that violated this woman, our governor is victimizing her again by making a political spectacle of her.
Another question that comes to mind is: Who will raise this child? Is the governor going to adopt this baby? I say that the governor should put his money where his mouth is and adopt this child. If this whole argument was about children, then we wouldn't have 38 percent of the homeless being children, would we? Whether to carry a child or not is a deeply personal decision that no one else should be able to make except that person, or that person's family if she is unable to - especially a victim of rape. Let's not victimize her twice.
-- Yvonne M. Osmond, Hudson
No one is safe from rape
Re: Logic and the victim get lost in skirmish over abortion, May 18.
Mary Jo Melone asks: "How did it come to be that this woman, in state care just about all her life, ended up in a place so poorly run that she was raped?"
Shame on you, Mary Jo! Suggesting that this rape is the result of mismanagement follows the same flawed thinking as that a fully functioning victim must have behaved or dressed inappropriately and invited the rape. The tragic truth is that every day women and children (and even some men) are raped in places they assume are safe - work sites, public restrooms, school stairwells, parking lots, nursing homes, hotels, and even in their own homes. My mentally disabled adult son functions at a 4-year-old level, lives in a group home and spends weekdays at a sheltered workshop. Many dedicated professionals are involved in his care; yet in spite of all their efforts, he could fall prey to a rapist just as easily as you or I could. No one is 100 percent protected from rape and to suggest otherwise is irresponsible.
Rosalyn Buchanan, Tampa
Grateful for VA care
At a time when most people seem to take a dim view of medical services at any veterans' hospital, I am writing to praise the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa.
I had been misdiagnosed by a specialist in Olean, N.Y., who said I had only a bladder infection. The wonderful Dr. Buckley at the New Port Richey Veterans Clinic recognized how serious my condition was and sent me to the James A. Haley VA Hospital to see Dr. Sergio Moreira, who diagnosed cancer. I sought a second opinion at the Moffitt Cancer Center, where Dr. Pow Sang reassured me that I would receive the same level of care at either facility. Being a veteran of World War II (I served in Africa, India, Burma and China in the Signal Air Warning Battalion), I chose to have surgery at the VA. Not for a moment have I regretted that decision.
At the VA hospital, Dr. Raviender Bukkapatnam performed surgery to remove my kidney. Not only did he save my life, he made personal follow-up phone calls to check on my condition and to schedule additional tests, and Dr. Mark Baker's expert care led to a fast recovery. Nurse Anne Bowman at the hospital administered therapeutic touch prior to the operation, which gave me a sense of peace. Further comfort to my wife and children was provided by the chaplain at the VA, Edward Lamp, who spent time with them while I was in surgery.
There are not enough words to express my gratitude, not only for my life but for the excellent care and genuine concern I received from all the nurses, doctors and other staff at the VA. Those of us who willingly served our country are certainly well-rewarded in our time of need by the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital.
-- Vincent Olivero, Holiday and Salamanca, N.Y.
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