How Medical Truths Are Suppressed
Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA
I have been writing about the way the drug industry controls the medical profession since the 1970s. In my first book (`The Medicine Men’) I pointed out that doctors had become nothing more than a branch of the pharmaceutical industry.
The book was well received at the time. There are reviews for `The Medicine Men’ under the Biography and Contact Details section of www.vernoncoleman.com
But things have got much worse since then. These days my books are hammered or ignored because the drug industry controls just about everything.
Indeed, these days doctors only get to read and hear what the drug industry wants them to read and hear. I can prove this.
A few years ago I was invited to speak at a conference in London. The conference was, I was told, intended to tackle the subject of medication errors and adverse reactions to prescribed drugs. The company organising the conference was called PasTest. ‘For over thirty years PasTest has been providing medical education to professionals within the NHS,’ they told me. ‘Building on our commitment to quality in medical and healthcare education, PasTest is creating a range of healthcare events which focus on the professional development of clinicians and managers who are working together to deliver healthcare services for the UK. Our aim is to provide a means for those who are in a position to improve services on both national and regional levels. The topics covered by our conferences are embraced within policy, best practice, case study, clinical management and evidence based practice. PasTest endeavours to source the best speakers who will engage audiences with balanced, relevant and thought-provoking programmes.’
Goody, I thought.
Iatrogenesis (doctor-induced disease) is something of a speciality of mine. I have written numerous books and articles on the subject. My campaigns have resulted in more drugs being banned or controlled than anyone else’s.
In addition to my speaking at the conference the organisers wanted me to help them decide on the final programme. I thought the conference was an important one and would give me a good opportunity to tell NHS staff the truth. I signed a contract.
PasTest wrote to confirm my appointment as a consultant and speaker for the PasTest Conference Division.
And then there was silence. My office repeatedly asked for details of when and where the conference was being held.
Silence.
Eventually a programme for the event appeared on the Internet. Curiously, my name was not on the list of speakers.
Here is part of the blurb promoting the conference:
‘Against a background of increasing media coverage into the number of UK patients who are either becoming ill or dying due to adverse reactions to medication our conference aims to explain the current strategies to avoid Adverse Drug reactions and what can be done to educate patients.’
Putting the blame on patients for problems caused by prescription drugs is brilliant. Most drug related problems are caused by the stupidity of doctors not the ignorance of patients. If the aim is to educate patients on how best to avoid prescription drug problems the advice would be simple: ‘Don’t trust doctors.’
The promotion for the conference claims that ‘It is estimated errors in medication...account for 4% of hospital bed capacity.’ And that prescription drug problems ‘reportedly kill up to 10,000 people a year in the UK’.
As I would have shown (had I not been banned from the conference) these figures are absurdly low.
The list of speakers included a variety of people I had never heard of including one speaker representing The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and another representing the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
Delegates representing the NHS were expected to pay £250 plus VAT (£293.75) to attend the event. Delegates whose Trust would be funding the cost were asked to apply for a Health Authority Approval form.
So why was I apparently banned from this conference?
This is what PasTest said when we asked them: ‘certain parties felt that he (Vernon Coleman) was too controversial to speak and as a result would not attend.’
Could that, I wonder, be the drug industry?
Is the drug industry now deciding whom they will allow to speak to doctors and NHS staff on the problems caused by prescription drugs? If I was banned at the behest of the drug industry do NHS bosses know that people attending such conferences will only hear speakers approved by the drug industry and that speakers telling the truth will be banned? (I think it is safe to assume that I won’t be invited to speak at any more conferences for NHS staff.)
Why are people who had me banned so frightened of what I would say? It can surely only be because they know that I would have caused embarrassment by telling the truth.
The scary bottom line is that the NHS paid a lot of money to send delegates to a conference where someone representing the drug industry spoke to them on drug safety. But I was banned.
Because I had a contract, PasTest paid me not to turn up. I used the money to buy advertisements for my book How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You.
Taken from `Coleman’s Laws: Twelve Essential Medical Secrets Which Could Save Your Life’ by Vernon Coleman.
`Coleman’s Laws’ is available on Amazon as a paperback and an eBook.
Copyright Vernon Coleman May 8th 2020
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