FDA Nabs More Viagra Than Opioids; Nurse Group Attacks; Doc Pushed Unneeded Surgery?

Welcome to the latest edition of Investigative Roundup, highlighting some of the best investigative reporting on healthcare each week.

More Viagra Than Opioids in International Drug Shipments

Despite evidence to the contrary, the FDA has long defended its efforts to prevent opioids from entering the country by intercepting prescription drug packages delivered through international mail, according to a report from Kaiser Health News (KHN).

In fact, the agency's own data revealed that confiscated packages did not contain significant amounts of opioids. The FDA said that just 33 packages of opioids and no fentanyl were found in the 53,000 drug shipments its investigators examined in 2022, which amounts to roughly 0.06% of the total packages searched, KHN reported.

Because the FDA has claimed that confiscating these international packages was preventing the import of opioids, pharmaceutical companies have used this claim to lobby against proposals in Washington, D.C. to allow Americans to buy their prescription drugs from countries where those drugs are cheaper, such as Canada.

The FDA often stops prescription drug shipments, even when no opioids are found, because of improper U.S. drug labeling and packaging.

The report noted that of the drugs confiscated by the FDA in 2020, the number one most common item was sildenafil, a generic form of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. Other common medications seized included those for asthma, diabetes, cancer, and HIV.

According to KHN, the FDA has been given millions of dollars to fight the shipment of opioids into the U.S., despite the limited evidence that these drugs are entering the country this way.

Nurse Group Targeting Healthcare Workers With 'Personal' Attacks

A network of nurses, known as American Frontline Nurses, has been targeting fellow healthcare workers with "very personal, very intimate, very scary" attacks, according to a report from VICE News.

Nicole Sirotek, the founder of the group, gained notoriety for spreading COVID vaccine misinformation. While she no longer works as a nurse, she has raised tens of thousands of dollars through her social media presence.

Tyler Kuhk, ARNP, MN, who practices in Washington state, told VICE News that he has been subjected to relentless harassment from the group, including being called a pedophile and being reported to police for allegedly threatening kids. His workplace has also been targeted with a barrage of messages demanding that Kuhk be fired.

Kuhk said this targeted attack started because he spoke out against Sirotek's misinformation campaigns.

He told VICE News that he now faces the possibility of being fired because an anonymous person filed a complaint against him with the Washington Board of Nursing.

"I stand by my dedication to the profession and the care I have for these issues, but the risks almost seem to outweigh the benefits at this point, financially, professionally, and mentally," Kuhk said.

Docs Push Risky, Unnecessary Surgery, Lawsuit Says

The Los Angeles Times reported new details about the doctors at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center who were accused of conducting a risky surgery to implant a medical device in a patient when it was not medically necessary.

After being discharged from the center in 2014, Bernetta Higgins was asked by her doctor, Rodney White, MD, to return to the emergency department and tell them she had chest pain, according to the complaint detailed in the Times. Despite feeling fine, Higgins followed White's recommendation.

She was readmitted to the hospital and scheduled for "a new experimental surgery" to implant two $15,000 devices that would address "a tear in the lining of her aorta," the Times reported. Higgins was told that the procedure would only take 90 minutes, according to her testimony in a lawsuit brought by a fellow doctor at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Timothy Ryan, MD, who was the first surgeon to treat Higgins.

Instead, the surgery reportedly took all day, and her family was informed that she had suffered a stroke.

According to the Times, White and another Harbor surgeon were being paid by Medtronic, the maker of the devices implanted in Higgins. As part of the lawsuit brought by Ryan, the doctors testified that they had received payments for Higgins' surgery because they were also teaching a course about the device.

However, Ryan alleged that no doctors were trained during the surgery and that the procedure was not medically necessary in the first place. The Times also reported that White later changed his testimony to say that he was paid by Medtronic for a different surgery earlier in the day.

"These are the most vulnerable people in L.A. County," Ryan told the Times. "This was done purely to line doctors' pockets."

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