This came out in the Australian version of the Vioxx suits:

Article from:  The Australian

AN international drug company made a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralised" or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced.

Staff at US company Merck &Co emailed each other about the list of doctors – mainly researchers and academics – who had been negative about the drug Vioxx or Merck and a recommended course of action.

The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words "neutralise", "neutralised" or "discredit" against some of the doctors’ names.

Don’t be evil.  It’s not just a Google slogan.

via Slashdot

Google did a Veterans’ day logo (finally) and they left off the Coast Guard.

They did fix it, though:

There are five services.  Happy (belated) Veterans’ Day!

(I screwed up, and changed the first post I did on this).

Health Blog : Tim Russert: One of a Kind; One of 300,000

Prediman K. Shah, director of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, says it was a classic episode, the way 80% of cases of sudden cardiac arrest occur. He wasn’t impressed with the report of Russert’s recent successful treadmill test. Even if a test is normal, “You can still have plaque and be at risk,” he tells us. It wasn’t clear whether Russert had been taking a cholesterol-lowering statin, but even if his LDL or bad cholesterol was under control, that wouldn’t assure protection against a heart attack.

“Statins do stabilize plaque (and thus reduce chances of rupture), but they haven’t eliminated every heart attack or sudden death,” Shah says. “We have to look for other means.”

Bring on the coronary CT’s please.

Medical News: Medical Community Mobilizes in Shadows of California Wildfires – in Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine from MedPage Today

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 25 — Despite the pervasive clouds of wind-blown smoke that enveloped southern California and displaced an estimated million persons, the emergency departments here did not face an exceptional strain.At the University of California San Diego Medical Center, elective operations and procedures were postponed. UC San Diego physicians were dispatched to triage duty at Qualcomm Stadium, where thousands of persons congregated after mandatory evacuations.

“So far we are only seeing very mild respiratory issues, some coughing or shortness of breath, but nothing serious,” said a spokesperson.

That’s good news.

Wife, 2 daughters dead after doctor’s family held hostage – CNN.com
CHESHIRE, Connecticut (AP) — At least two men broke into a prominent doctor’s home early Monday, kidnapped a female family member to withdraw money from a bank and then killed his wife and their two daughters, police said.

Utterly horrible.

Before you get too anxious, I’m pretty sure this is three years old, and got sexed up a bit due to the recent terror strikes in Great Britain by physicians.

A group of 45 Muslim doctors threatened to use car bombs and rocket grenades in terrorist attacks in the United States during discussions on an extremist internet chat site.

Police found details of the discussions on a site run by one of a three-strong “cyber-terrorist” gang.

They were discovered at the home of Younis Tsouli, 23, Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London heard.

One message read: “We are 45 doctors and we are determined to undertake jihad and take the battle inside America.

“The first target which will be penetrated by nine brothers is the naval base which gives shelter to the ship Kennedy.” This is thought to have been a reference to the USS John F Kennedy, which is often at Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville, Florida.

The message discussed targets at the base, adding: “These are clubs for naked women which are opposite the First and Third units.”

It also referred to using six Chevrolet GT vehicles and three fishing boats and blowing up petrol tanks with rocket propelled grenades.

Investigators have found no link between the Tsouli chat room and the group of doctors and medics currently in custody over attempted car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.

However, sources said it was “definitely spooky” that the use of doctors for terrorist purposes was being discussed in jihadi terrorist circles up to three years ago.

So, this was in an internet chat room run by would-be jihadists who would actually rather steal credit card numbers and defraud banks.  While it bears investigation, I’m not going to start sweating just yet.

Thanks to reader ‘Medic’ for the tip!