THE DANGER WITHIN US

By Jeanne Lenzer
Did you know...

Medical interventions have become the third leading cause of death in America, killing more Americans each year than diabetes, murders, car accidents and AIDS combined.

You might think medical devices—like pacemakers, artificial hips, cardiac stents, etc.—don’t have side effects like drugs do. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The FDA does not require clinical testing for most high-risk implanted devices, and only 5% of the highest risk cardiac devices undergo the equivalent of the standard requirement for drug testing: two randomized, blinded clinical trials. Patients serve as unwitting test subjects to determine whether devices are safe.

Tens of millions of Americans have an implanted medical device, and yet the death rate caused by these devices is unknown, because no one is keeping track. Not the FDA. Not the manufacturers. Not hospitals. Not doctors.

The FDA habitually defends the interests of industry over the public interest, in part due to the “revolving door” between the businesses being regulated and the FDA.

The average annual compensation package for CEOs of the 18 publicly traded medical device companies in the U.S. was $15.4 million in 2015.

MEDICAL DEVICES INCLUDE:
cardiac pacemakers and stents • artificial hips, knees, shoulders, etc. • cochlear implants • vagus nerve stimulators • deep brain stimulators • breast implants • surgical mesh • skull plates • intrauterine devices