J. Wesley Boyd, MD, PhD

Excellent article on Physician Health Programs here by Frieda Klotz. One problem of PHPs is that they operate with little oversight and almost no ways of meaningfully appealing they’re recommendations. Additionally, they have bidirectional conflicts of interest with the evaluation/treatment centers they utilize. They say these centers specialize in treating physicians which is why they send doctors to all corners of the country, but in reality any good academic department or addition psychiatrist could do what these centers do, only better. And finally, when PHPs say they don’t control licensure but instead that state licensing boards do, that is disingenuous beyond belief, because boards of medicine generally defer every single question of ability to practice to PHPs. Thus, PHPs control licensure decisions for MDs/DOs who have questions of impairment.

https://www.kevinmd.com/2024/06/ai-ethics-in-medical-education-podcast.html

I just published a review of Carl Elliott’s latest book here in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. Here are my concluding chapters from the review:

Elliott notes that many whistleblowers start out as idealists. Indeed, that idealism is at the core of what drove them to blow the whistle in the first place. But in the end, whistleblowers can end up with their idealism in tatters: “(Whistleblowers) talk about disillusionment, loneliness, and anger, about their struggles with guilt and shame, about a sense of betrayal and crushed idealism.”

Given this reality, by the end of The Occasional Human Sacrifice, we see that its title refers not just to the research subjects who have died at the hands of researchers, but also to the whistleblowers themselves, who are compelled to proceed even while hurling themselves towards their own demise.

At its heart, The Occasional Human Sacrifice is a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit, a reminder that even in the darkest of times, there are some who refuse to be silenced, and it serves as a clarion call for ethical accountability in an age where the pursuit of scientific advancement, personal aggrandisement, and greed often eclipses the upholding of basic moral principles.

In conclusion, The Occasional Human Sacrifice is a must read for everyone who cares about principles and doing right, but especially for bioethicists, IRB committee members, and others interested in human experimentation gone awry, and the price some pay to shed light on the malfeasance and injustices therein.

Requiring FDA approval for laboratory developed tests would be an overreaction to the Theranos debacle and would ultimately harm patients

See my opinion piece about proposed new oversight and regulation of lab developed tests by the FDA here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-fda-overreaction-to-theranoss-implosion-would-harm-patients

After saving all of my photos–ironically, seeing vacation photos was why I joined many years ago–I left Facebook roughly a month ago. Several years ago during a visit in Nashville, my former teacher Larry Churchill was decrying so many of Facebook’s predatory practices and he said something to the effect of “I’d run from that platform.” His words continued to resonate with me over the years and last month it was just time for me to go.

I joined Twitter about a decade ago when the publisher of my book Almost Addicted said I needed to be on Twitter to help promote the book. From the jump I was an ambivalent user at most who’d been thinking that I might sign off. When Elon Musk bought Twitter that just about sealed the deal in and of itself.

Alas, I quit Twitter yesterday, after seeing a Washington Post article on Elon Musk in which Musk was quoted as saying, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.” How many different ways is that statement just plain hideous?

I’m delighted that KCRW: Life Examined public radio in LA devoted this segment to mental health care and honored to have been a guest on the show. You can find the broadcast here.

So honored to have my research cited by John Oliver! Monica Malowney and I have written about how absurdly difficult it is to access behavioral healthcare in the U.S. many times over the years. It’s so absurd that comedians keep quoting our research, including 2 of my absolute favorites Hasan Minaj and now John Oliver (about 14 minutes in)!