The wonderful Dr Margaret McCartney’s BBC Radio 4 series: ‘Money Influence and The NHS’ is currently being broadcast.
She has recurring nightmares about the nefarious ways the pharmaceutical industry exerts influence – for example, by funding patient pressure groups … about which she has written before in the Guardian. These patient groups, in turn, try to influence NHS policy. Given that funds are limited, if one group of patients benefits unfairly, another more deserving group get a smaller slice of the cake. She is also a champion of transparency – advocating that doctors who endorse products should make their position abundantly clear.
There are plenty of examples of well known docs who abuse their position to endorse products which have very little, if any, merit. One example is the IcleTest scandal whereby an agency set up a publicity campaign for what was basically a home test for microscopic haematuria – invisible traces of blood in the urine. This supposedly gave “peace of mind” if it was negative and a warning of early cancer if it was positive. Unfortunately the campaign emphasised this was a test for early prostate cancer – which all doctors worth their salt know is not the case. In a Mirror article, Vincent Gnanapragasam, Professor of Urology at the University of Cambridge, is quoted as saying: “Blood in the urine is very, very rarely caused by prostate cancer unless perhaps in some very advanced cases,” he said. “It is not used nor has any place at all in early detection of prostate cancer.”
The doctors involved included Drs Hilary Jones, Christian Jesson and Zoe Williams. Due to the adverse publicity, including the aforementioned damning Mirror article, the company appears to have ceased trading but Hilary Jones can still be found on Facebook telling “guys” all about this wonderful test. He subsequently moved on to endorse home-testing kits manufactured by Newfoundland Diagnostics which he described as a “game-changer” for reducing the burden on the NHS. GPs are not quite so keen on random screening tests like these as they tend to throw up results slightly outside the normal range which are of no significance – but the patients who have requested the tests then book appointments with their doctors to receive an explanation and follow up.
Another example is Dr Sarah Brewer who was a GP several decades ago but has since found a far more profitable occupation: writing books and endorsing health care products. She variously describes herself as a GP, a Cambridge scientist (she lives in the Channel Islands, presumably for tax purposes), a cardiologist, and a leading nutrition expert, etc.
These products include her hugely expensive brand of olive oil, a menopause cure based on recipes handed down since time immemorial in the Far East, a protein supplement, chocolate bars that make the weight drop off (the data having been funded by Mars) … and broth. Her angle is that these products combine wisdom of the ancients with cutting edge science. She claims that all her products have numerous health benefits and, as a general rule, the more claims that are made for a product, the less credibility it has.
Her adverts come thick and fast. The first and most enduring product in her range is olive oil. Other people’s olive oil, we learn, is full of impurities and can make you fat. Her brand, however, ensures you lose weight. It is the reason why Italian women can stuff their faces with pizza and pasta and remain remarkably slim. (Cue: visual of slim Italian women stuffing their faces with pizza and pasta.) In the early advertisements we were told that this olive oil came from a small farm in Tuscany where the soil was rich in volcanic ash resulting in olives that are packed with polyphenols. We were urged to place an order quickly because there was a limited supply and once that had gone we had to wait for the next harvest. When it became clear that sales were booming to the extent that the stuff was being brought over in oil tankers the size of the Stena Immaculate, this ploy was quietly dropped.
She is rather naughty in as much as she uses actors to play the part of patients or fellow doctors. To keep costs down, the actress who plays the part of a doctor in menopause treatment video – (she brings secret back from the Far East and selflessly shares it with Brewer who then goes profit from it) also plays the part of a patient in other adverts. Indeed, some of the actors who feature in her videos go on feign different complaints in other clinicians’ adverts.
As with most of these online advertisements There are numerous commendations from grateful patients. As a general rule it’s unwise to place much weight on these as you can buy glowing recommendations by the yard. It’s worth noting that her scam rating is somewhat worrying. Paul O’Connell, who has previously featured in Wales Online, is an even naughtier doctor who variously described himself as “the NHS’s leading joint expert” (for which he received a rap over the knuckles from ASA), an expert in the treatment of diabetes and urinary/prostate disorders … as well as being “the famous gut doctor.” He frequently called himself an ‘NHS GP’. In his videos he gave the impression that patients from all over the country were referred to his Cardiff practice. In fact he did not have an NHS practice but did run a private ‘aesthetic medicine’ practice in Cardiff. He was also spotted running a ‘Sunday recovery service‘ (offering intravenous vitamins) in a bar.
His videos are extremely long and involve convoluted stories about him travelling the world to find cures for various ailments. In several of his videos he claims that he has discovered the secret of the salamander which he says he’s used to enable those who availed themselves of his product to regenerate cartilage thereby treating painful joints without surgery or conventional medication.
One of my principal concerns is that he has potentially been putting some patients at risk – for example diabetic patients who buy his diabetes ‘aid’ called Gluco Support were not told to check with their clinician first and nor were they advised not to stop taking their prescribed medication. There was just a general disclaimer which in my view was not sufficient to safeguard patients. Patients with diabetes can all too easily run into serious trouble if their condition isn’t well managed. Fortunately, as I say, his activities have been curbed by an exposé in Wales Online.
Both Brewer and O’Connell tell patients exactly what they want to hear. The benefits of diet and exercise are played down because the implication is that there are easier ways to deal with your condition.
None of the above doctors make their financial interests in products they are endorsing clear. Sadly the regulatory authorities do little to curb docs who are happy to sacrifice their reputations for the 21st century equivalent of 40 pieces of silver. Margaret McCartney says she has had “very little helpful response from them”, Les Rose, a long-time campaigner for effective regulation, finds them ineffectual, and I have had similar disappointing experiences. Reform of the system is long overdue!
Dr John Cormack