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medpundit |
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Saturday, March 30, 2002The involved physician was smeared by an investigative report by the CBC that accused him of putting financial interest over patient interest. Court after court has agreed that he was maligned by the media. The appeals court decision in summary: "Leenen argued the programme falsely created the impression that he supported the prescription of dangerous drugs; that he had a conflict of interest; that he was receiving a pay-off or kickbacks from Pfizer; and that he acted negligently or dishonestly as the chairman of an ad-hoc advisory committee of Health Canada's Health Protection Branch. The Ontario Court of Appeal agreed, awarding him $589 000 in punitive damages and $518 430 in legal costs. Myers received $217 000 in general and aggravated damages, as well as $63 000 in legal costs. The trial judge called the programme "sensational journalism of the worst sort and should serve as an embarrassment to this so-called 'flagship' investigative programme". The original trial judges reached the same conclusion (also requires registration): " The trial judges had ruled that although the investigative team had interviewed scores of medical professionals over 14 weeks and understood the debate about the hazards and benefits of drug treatment, they decided to "dramatically simplify a complex medical debate" and had "seriously mischaracterised" the physicians' positions." The doctors from The Hutchinson Center in Seattle should get in touch with this guy's lawyers. posted by Sydney on 3/30/2002 08:48:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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