Email steve@steveariens.com 502-938-2414
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The above link is a 20 page *.pdf of the legal paperwork that Dr Ibsen has filed against the MT medical license board and some of its ancillary staff. They have been dragging out justice for Mark for abt 7 yrs. By just about anyone who has witnessed this from the very beginning… the board has been dragging their feet in coming to a conclusion and taking the necessary actions to exonerate and liberate Mark’s medical license.
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The practice of medicine can be basically defined as follows: Do a in person physical exam, diagnose the pt’s health issues, create a plan of treatment that will cure the health issue or manage the health issue.. As well, the practice of medicine involves the starting, changing, stopping a pt’s plan of treatment, which includes medications.
The question is… is Walgreen’s practicing medicine without a license, restricting interstate commerce or some other issue that they have no legal authority to do ?
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https://youtu.be/SjCIP1dZG4o
A lot of what I read on how to prevent becoming sick is confusing. So I think the best way to prevent the virus is to always assume that you are infected.
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One mechanic to discriminate against anyone is a red flags. a red flag is a made-up suspension to say that just because someone has a pony-tail or tattoos, they are a criminal. In our world, the pharmacists are delaying the people prescriptions just because they are a opioid user and have traveled a large distance. We need to protect people from the prejudice of pharmacists refusing to fill a legitimate prescriptions.
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Dear Pain Warriors ~ Its OFFICIAL !
We have signed PAIN WARRIORS to Gravitas Ventures distribution , USA and our official worldwide release is- May 25/ 2020- across all Video on Demand platforms, cable tv, and other venues.
Please feel free to SHARE on your FB page, in pain groups, journalists, Local newspapers, on line bloggers etc . Feel free to be interviewed in * local papers
( in your capacity as an interview subject) sharing your involvement in the film and its important message.
Dont forget to mention our DISTRIBUTOR: Gravitas Ventures USA.
PLEASE PLEASE SHARE OUR SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS and help us build a following!
FB: Painwarriorsmovie
TWITTER @painwarriorsdoc
Instagram : painwarriorsmovie
Thanks so much.
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U.S. Hospitals Prepare Guidelines For Who Gets Care Amid Coronavirus SurgeAs COVID-19 spreads rapidly through the United States, many American doctors could soon be making the decisions that overwhelmed health care workers in Italy are already facing: Which patients get lifesaving treatment, and which ones do not?
Every accredited hospital in the U.S. is required to have some mechanism for addressing ethical issues like this — typically, an ethics committee made up of not just medical professionals but often also social workers, pastors and patient advocates. Sometimes in partnership with hospital triage committees, they create guidelines for prioritizing patient care if there’s a resource shortage.
As the number of coronavirus cases rises in the U.S., hospitals have a new urgency in revisiting and updating those guidelines.
They vary from hospital to hospital, but their overall goal is usually to save the most lives. So hospitals consider a combination of factors: age, life expectancy, how severe a patient’s illness is, how likely treatment is to help and whether a patient has additional illnesses that could shorten the person’s life span, such as cancer or heart disease. Hospitals can then use those factors to develop scoring systems or clinical scores to prioritize care.
In early March, as the coronavirus outbreak worsened in Italy, an Italian medical association issued guidelines finding that doctors might have to prioritize younger COVID-19 patients over older ones. “It may be necessary to place an age limit” on access to intensive care, the guidelines advised, with the goal of preserving limited health care resources for patients more likely to survive.
But age is rarely the only factor in such decision-making. For example, a 20-year-old will not always get priority over a 60-year-old, especially if that 20-year-old has additional health problems that could mean the 60-year-old is likely to live longer anyway. Scoring systems can disadvantage older patients, because as people age they become more susceptible to disease, which can hurt their clinical scores.
“Some people think that people who are in a position to help address a crisis in the future if they were to recover, like health care workers and first responders, maybe should receive some sort of priority in triaging scarce resources,” said Emily Rubin, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a co-chair of the hospital’s ethics committee.
Could other professions also be a factor, meaning that a hospital might prioritize, say, a hedge fund manager over a landscaper? That’s unlikely, according to Dr. Matthew Wynia, an infectious disease and public health specialist who directs the University of Colorado’s Center for Bioethics and Humanities.
Wynia said most hospitals should operate on the principle that every human life has equal worth, so patients are clinically evaluated the same regardless of their employment, gender, race or insurance, or whether they have children.
“So if you had someone who was an upstanding member of the local community or a big donor to the hospital or a well-known politician versus a clerk at the 7-Eleven or a homeless person,” Wynia said, each of those patients should be evaluated equally.
There’s already evidence that when it comes to coronavirus testing, rich and powerful people are getting greater access than ordinary Americans.
But ideally, hospital decision-makers would have “blinded” information that prevented them from knowing details about a patient’s source of payment, race, gender and other personal details, unless it were clinically relevant, Wynia said.
Hospitals could adopt a lottery or first-come-first-served system for triaging patients, but that might mean someone less sick is treated before someone more sick, potentially failing to achieve the goal of saving the most lives. Hospitals could treat worse-off patients first, but if those people are unlikely to survive, doctors might be better off focusing on people who are less ill.
“A million intricacies” could come into play in a real-world setting, Rubin said.
Numerous doctors interviewed by NPR said the U.S. lacks an exact historical comparison for how the coronavirus pandemic could play out but said guidelines at least offer general principles for steering hospital decision-making.
They also said guidelines must be transparent so the public has faith that the guidelines are fair and ethically justifiable. Wynia predicts that many hospitals will soon begin releasing their triage guidelines in case the U.S. ends up in an Italy-like situation.
And guidelines are needed not just for determining which patients to treat but how long to treat them. Nancy Berlinger, a research scholar at the Hastings Center, a nonprofit bioethics think tank in Garrison, N.Y., posed an ethical dilemma.
“Let’s say a patient is on a ventilator but isn’t improving, and this patient might — might — do better if they were allowed to stay on the ventilator longer, but there are people waiting for that ventilator,” Berlinger said. “Do you withdraw the ventilation earlier than you might normally do? So it’s not just who gets the vent — it’s also who stays on it.”
For now, U.S. hospitals are unsure whether their triage guidelines will be needed in the coronavirus pandemic, but they must brace for the possibility.
“This is a worst-case scenario that we’re talking about,” Wynia said. “We hope we never get there, but we have to get ready for the worst. And it would be irresponsible not to be getting ready right now because of what we’re seeing in other places around the world where things really have gone very, very badly and where they have run out of equipment, supplies, staff, space, people. So we need to be prepared for that.”
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A new blood test for fibromyalgia is more accurate than expected and will not confuse the chronic pain disorder with other diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, according to the doctor who developed the test.
“We found no overlap between biomarkers of fibromyalgia and the immune system profiles of patients with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. This has the effect of exhaling the minds of opponents, “said Bruce Gillis, MD, founder and CEO of EpicGenetics, a bioresearch company based in Santa Monica, California.
A new blood test for fibromyalgia is more accurate than expected and will not confuse the chronic pain disorder with other diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, according to the doctor who developed the test.
“We found no overlap between biomarkers of fibromyalgia and the immune system profiles of patients with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. This has the effect of exhaling the minds of opponents, “said Bruce Gillis, MD, founder and CEO of EpicGenetics, a bioresearch company based in Santa Monica, California.
EpicGenetics launched the FM test in March, calling it the first definitive blood test for fibromyalgia, a misunderstood condition characterized by deep tissue pain, fatigue, headache, depression and lack of sleep. Test results are usually available in about a week.
The FM test looks for protein molecules in the blood, the so-called chemokines and cytokines, which are produced by white blood cells. According to Gillis, fibromyalgia patients have fewer chemokines and cytokines in their blood and therefore have a weaker immune system than normal patients.
Critics have indicated that the same biomarkers of the immune system can be found in people with other diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, making the blood test unreliable.
In a new research involving more than 300 patients with fibromyalgia, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, Gillis said only fibromyalgia patients had lower chemokines and cytokines than normal.
“They do not have the same biomarkers of the immune system. Not at all, “Gillis told the National Pain Report. “The models we see in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, we see this inflammatory process. However, we do not see the same biomarkers in fibromyalgia. “
Gillis said the research is complete and he hopes that it will be published in a medical journal in the coming months.
When the FM test was introduced, EpicGenetics said it was 93% accurate in diagnosing fibromyalgia. Gillis says the sensitivity of the test is now estimated at 99%, which is about the same as the test used to diagnose HIV.
Dr. Bruce Gillis
According to estimates by the National Institutes of Health, 5 million Americans suffer from fibromyalgia – and millions worldwide – but so far only a few hundred have signed up for the FM test. According to Gillis, the cost of $ 744, which is not normally covered by health insurance, could be an obstacle for many patients.
“Many people diagnosed with fibromyalgia do not work. And because they do not work, they can not afford to pay for a test. They are not health insured, “Gillis said, adding that some insurers paid the test in compensation cases for employees.
“When we started it cost us $ 12,500 to analyze the parameters of a patient’s immune system. So we lowered prices, very low. “
Gillis hopes to lower the price of the FM test by allowing other laboratories with analytical balances to collect blood and send blood samples to EpicGenetics.
Regardless of the cost, patients with fibromyalgia are excited that eventually a simple test is available to diagnose a disorder in which their physicians and relatives are often skeptical. The diagnosis of an average patient with fibromyalgia takes three to five years.
“Having a reliable blood marker will more than just confirm us as a patient. It will open a field full of dreams and opportunities for compassionate researchers to define this terrible disorder, “said Celeste Cooper, a fibromyalgic patient.
“Once we have a biological test, we will know that the study participants have fibromyalgia. There will be no twisted results and the discussion of the mental illness will take place in our examination mirror. It’s a tasty thought. “
There have been several potential breakthroughs in fibromyalgia research in recent months.
Ohio state researchers are in the early stages of developing another type of blood test for fibromyalgia. Using a high-power infrared microscope, they identified a model of molecules in the blood that seems unique to fibromyalgia patients.
Another research team in the state of New York has discovered that fibromyalgia has excessive sensory nerve fibers in the blood vessels of their hands that can disrupt blood flow throughout the body.
“In less than six months, we have received two studies that report a successful analysis of fibromyalgia using blood markers. Now he appears to be entering an area that transcends more than one debate,” says Cooper.
“This is a victory for the scientific community and a victory for the patient. I doubt that this is the last one. Expect more research during the race and what a glorious race it will be for those of us who live with fibromyalgia every day. “
The research could also lead to the discovery of a genetic marker for fibromyalgia – a gene that increases the likelihood of disease in some people.
EpicGenetics is rescuing numerous blood samples from patients who have passed the FM test, hoping one day to examine them for RiboNucleicAcid (RNA), molecules involved in protein synthesis, and the transmission of genetic information.
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Pharmacists working at chain drug stores in the city are blasting Walgreens and CVS, saying the corporations have done little to protect their employees during the raging coronavirus pandemic.
A veteran pharmacist who has worked at a Staten Island Walgreens for more than 25 years told The Post the company has provided little guidance for coping with COVID-19.
She said Friday her store had yet to be deep-cleaned and there is no hand sanitizer for employees.
“Thousands of people are coming into the store and touching the pin-pads and there is nothing to clean them with,” said the pharmacist, who did not want to be identified for fear of losing her job.
“I don’t understand why doctors and nurses are having their temperatures taken before they go to a hospital, but there are no precautions for us who have to deal with sick people all day long.”
The pharmacist said she was worried that if an employee gets sick, “they will have to quarantine all of us and there will be no one left to work.”
Her fears were echoed in an online Facebook support group where pharmacists from across the country wrote about similar concerns at drug stores owned by Walgreens and CVS Health. The chains are by far the largest. There are 9,277 Walgreens stores and 9,967 CVS pharmacies across the country, serving millions of people.
“I am writing now to tell you that now more than ever, it is evident that Walgreens … cares about nothing more than profit,” said an anonymous pharmacist “in the trenches in NY” on the “Pharmacy Staff for COVID-19 Support” group on Facebook.
“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, I can honestly say that we have received ZERO guidance from the higher-ups and NOTHING has been done to help protect employees or our patients,” said the pharmacist, who claimed to have been working at a city Walgreens for the last five years.
“There are no extra hours allocated to sanitizing anything in the store or the pharmacy.”
But a spokeswoman for Walgreens, which also runs Duane Reade pharmacies, said that as of last week the company has started to reduce operating hours at their drug stores to allow for cleaning and stocking shelves.
“As the situation evolves, we are actively reviewing our policies, procedures and operations to promote the safety and well being of our team members and customers,” said spokeswoman Margaret Sheehan.
A spokesman for CVS Health told The Post Thursday that the company is “prioritizing” masks “for store and pharmacy employees in markets that have the highest incidences of COVID-19 diagnoses and we continue to work with suppliers to source additional masks in the face of never-before-seen disruptions to the medical supply chain.”
But the Staten Island pharmacist said only few things had changed at her location.
As of last Thursday, “the only steps they took was that they marked lines on the floor six feet apart so that customers could wait six feet apart on line in accordance with CDC guidelines.”
The company had not provided masks or sanitizer for employees, she told The Post.
Last week more than 6,200 pharmacists signed a change.org petition demanding that CVS and other chain pharmacies convert to drive-thru facilities during the pandemic.
“Like many other healthcare professionals, pharmacy employees are being put at risk with the coronavirus situation,” the petition said.
“Let’s get the corporate chains to do more than provide their employees with more than a few cans of Lysol.”
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90 mg doses limits are a death sentence for 10 million people across the US. This dose is enough a 10 year old, not an adult.
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Opinion: Pharmacy Chains are Failing to Protect Their Employees and Communities from COVID-19https://www.pharmacistanonymous.com/post/opinion-pharmacy-chains-covid-19
We all know masks, sanitizer, cleaning supplies, and other PPE (personal protective equipment) are in short supply, and that they are desperately needed in hospitals across America (and the world).
But we also know that many businesses have voluntarily made drastic changes to their daily operations during this unprecedented time and have pulled off Herculean efforts to continue providing services, while still minimizing human exposure.
That’s great right?
Certainly!
It’s wonderful to see people being resourceful and innovative and generous in times of need.
But why are businesses like restaurants, banks, and office-based companies all able to figure out ways to provide their services and get work done when life is no longer “business as usual”, yet for some reason healthcare workers on the front lines in communities across America are being denied extremely SIMPLE and AVAILABLE means of protection?
That’s right, we may not have PPE, but we have something even better!
Solid. Plexiglass. Windows.
The vast majority of today’s pharmacies have drive thru and delivery options available, and in the face of a severe lack of PPE, compounded by exposure to hundreds of patients every day, pharmacy workers should be permitted to run their stores as drive-thru, delivery, and curbside only institutions, as a method of protecting both workers AND patients from transmission in either direction. And many of them are already doing so, if they run their own pharmacies. Make sure you are giving your employee rewards for all the hard work and efforts they put in.
The problem is, we’ve utterly destroyed independent pharmacy in America, so most pharmacists are forced to work for giant corporations, which do not allow them independence, often in spite of state laws forbidding interference in the professional judgement of a licensed pharmacist.
We are being told by our employers that we are “not front-line healthcare providers” and that “our risk stratification is low”, in spite of this data drawn from Bureau of Labor Statistics and reported by the New York Times. See the image below for a visualization of our occupational hazard. We are there just next to nurses. Additionally, see OSHA’s description of risk stratification, which would place community pharmacists squarely in the Medium Risk category (see page 20 for description of category, and page 21 for recommendations for that category).
New York Times estimates the health risk for various professions in this pandemic based on Exposure to Diseases and Physical Proximity to Others
The only thing left for us as pharmacists to do is appeal to the public. This is not my petition, but I implore you to please share and sign.
Make pharmacies drive thru only during the corona crisis
We as pharmacists WANT to stay open and care for our communities. But when we go down, there isn’t anyone waiting in the wings to take our place. There are a limited number of people in any given community who are legally licensed and trained to safely perform a pharmacist’s duties right now.
That means there is no one there to dispense life-saving medications to our communities when we fall ill.
Things like:
-Insulins
-Blood pressure medicines
-Inhalers and nebulized medicines for asthma and COPD
-Diabetes medicines
-Antibiotics
-Antivirals
-Antipsychotics
-Seizure medications
-and many, many more, which all require a pharmacist to be safely dispensed. In the interest of keeping pharmacies OPEN to serve our communities as long as they need us, corporate pharmacy supervisors need to take up the mantle of true leadership and make the difficult decisions to make radical preparations that will impact workflows and make pharmacies “less convenient” in the short-term, in order to keep them OPEN in the long-term. So: again, I call on Leaders in Pharmacy: LEAD! They won’t do it without outside pressure.
WE must create the pressure. Make pharmacies drive thru only during the corona crisis
#pharmacistanonymous #COVID19 #drivethrudistancing #deliveryplease #communityhealth #pharmacycarematters #medicationsafety #publichealth #flattenthecurve #PharmacistsCare
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