Update: Carlat's new take on psychiatrists inquiry
Dr. Daniel Carlat, a Newburyport psychiatrist on a campaign to separate the influence of industry from medicine, has changed his mind about the three psychiatrists facing a Senate investigation into their failure to report payments from drug makers.
After reviewing records revealed by Senator Charles Grassley, Carlat is no longer inclined to give Drs. Jospeh Biederman, Timothy Wilens, and Thomas Spencer the benefit of the doubt. Instead, he says continuing medical education provided cover for "legalized money laundering" from drug companies.
"It appears that the vast majority of the money eventually reported by the Harvard Trio, a combined $4.2 million over 7 years, was drug company money that was laundered and processed to seem like it wasn't drug company money," Carlat writes on his blog. "And this, I suspect, is why it was so easy for the doctors to rationalize not disclosing it."
Yesterday Massachusetts General Hospital leaders sent an internal memo of support and sympathy for its three doctors. Biederman's work is linked to a steep rise in bipolar diagnoses among children.
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Elizabeth Cooney covers health for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. She
previously reported on business and was an editor at the paper. Earlier in
her career, she edited medical books and journals at Little, Brown, and
worked for Boston magazine.Boston Globe Health and Science staff:
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