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Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs

propublica.org

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Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs

#21

Post by xpe »

thfuran wrote: post #14
xpe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I respect doctors (and people in general), but I don’t give the medical profession a passing grade. To speak in generalities (there are exceptions), their training is somewhat insane: long hours, sleep deprivation, knowledge cramming, and more. Their daily practice leaves little time or incentive for keeping up with studies. Most were not adequately taught statistics in the first place. To vent a bit more, I don’t th…

>Their daily practice leaves little time or incentive for keeping up with studies. Their certification requires it, at least to some extent.

Two responses. First, CME is criticized as being largely influenced by industry rather than primarily intended to advance medical learning. [1]

Second, assuming medical continuing education is something like 20 to 40 hours depending on the region [2], this feels meager and insufficient. In contrast, think of how much learning a software developer does during a year -- perhaps close to 5+ hours per week on average! [3] Very different contexts, very different incentives.

[1]: https://www.chronicle.com/article/lessons-from-a-professors-...

[2]: Based on very quick research: could be off -- corrections are welcome

[3]: There are many differences, of course. Just to pick one example: to what degree does a software developer's continuing exploration into an area (such as a specific business process that their application needs to understand) help their craft? Does it improve their skill level? Does it result in transferable skills? Does it improve the quality of their work?

Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs

#22

Post by thfuran »

xpe wrote: post #21
thfuran wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Their daily practice leaves little time or incentive for keeping up with studies. Their certification requires it, at least to some extent.

Two responses. First, CME is criticized as being largely influenced by industry rather than primarily intended to advance medical learning. [1] Second, assuming medical continuing education is something like 20 to 40 hours depending on the region [2], this feels meager and insufficient. In contrast, think of how much learning a software developer does during a year -- perhaps close to 5+ hours per week on average! [3…

A software developer is not required to do any continuing education at all.

Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs

#25

Post by dantheman »

cowpig wrote: post #20

I have a pet theory about the medical industry in the USA. The US is the most pure-capitalist nation on the planet, and medical services are as bad a fit as it gets for a market economy: * interactions with the market are ideally as few as possible * there is massive information asymmetry * people can't "shop around" during medical emergencies * the externalities are orders of magnitude more potent than the forces di…

The majority of medical care and expenses are not emergency.

Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs

#26

Post by komali2 »

soangry wrote: post #18
fn-mote wrote: post #15

The report is horrifying, but in the current US political climate it is very hard to see how a government agency could undergo any positive cultural change. A quick search finds recent firings [1] and [2]... who would lead a change? [1]: https://floridianpress.com/2025/06/rep-wasserman-schultz-sla... [2]: https://fortune.com/2025/02/16/trump-cuts-fda-layoffs-food-s...

The issue I described existed before the administration change. Neither's parties people wants to be poisoned.

> Neither's parties people wants to be poisoned.

Voters for one party keep taking horse medicine and we can't seem to stop them when they experience negative side effects, and we couldn't get them to get vaccines even as their friends and loved ones were dying begging for it at the last minute. There's definitely a party divide here.

Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs

#28

Post by cogman10 »

throwawaymaths wrote: post #17
cogman10 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. This is a clear example of why that's bad and why these agencies need funding and competent staffing.

these agencies had funding and competent staffing. they correctly identified that the factories were producing dangerous products.

The funding comes in because they didn't have the funds to test the drugs. That's something I'd hope was happening with all drugs.

The competence comes in because they put availability above safety. That's an incompetent trade-off.

Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs

#29

Post by xpe »

thfuran wrote: post #22
xpe wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two responses. First, CME is criticized as being largely influenced by industry rather than primarily intended to advance medical learning. [1] Second, assuming medical continuing education is something like 20 to 40 hours depending on the region [2], this feels meager and insufficient. In contrast, think of how much learning a software developer does during a year -- perhaps close to 5+ hours per week on average! [3…

A software developer is not required to do any continuing education at all.

Ok, but you are moving the goalposts relative to my original quote: “Their daily practice leaves little time or incentive for keeping up with studies.” My first point is that software developers (generally, more often than not) have the time and incentive to learn on an ongoing basis.

Second point: if continuing education has to be mandated, it is likely a symptom of a system that lacks proper incentives.

On the positive side, as more patients educate themselves and press doctors for statistical understanding and synthesis across studies, “Dr. Expert’s” stale knowledge will no longer fly.

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