Carr Crash

David Carr, a media columnist for the New York Times, former alt-weekly editor and one of the genuine good sorts in the journalism world, had an interesting piece yesterday wherein he examined his first brush with the health care blogosphere after all the news 'round Avandia the last few weeks. Carr, a diabetic, describes himself as a "in the sweet spot for a cardiovascular event." Hence, his visit to the blogosphere, seeking information and insight on cardiac problems reportedly linked to GSK's drug. (I'm following the Avandia story with interest, but have squat to offer by way of info and analysis. So my lip is shut for now.)

Carr comes away from the adventure feeling underwhelmed:

"When it comes to meta-analysis on breaking issues, the Web seems better-suited to Paris Hilton than patient safety."

Possibly on Avandia. We'll see. But on Zyprexa, the other atyicals, the bipolar child paradigm and such matters, Carr has no idea just how wrong he is. All the same, it was nice to see him quoting Peter Rost--whose spectacular Question Authority--is giving Big Pharma a big old case of dyspepsia and Pharmalot, the excellent pharma biz blog by Ed Silverman at the Newark Star-Ledger. Rost nicely sums up some of my views on health care blogging:

"Dr. Peter Rost, an industry whistle-blower and the author of the Question Authority blog, said there was extreme value in consumers using the Web as a health resource, even if it is noisy and all over the road.

"'Yes, you have to sort it out and you have to evaluate, but all of the information used to belong to the moneyed and the powerful,' he said. 'Those barriers don’t exist on the Web, so people have access to all sorts of information about Avandia.'"

And Zyprexa, Risperdal, Seroquel, Prozac, Paxil (Seroxat), Zoloft, Abilify and on and on. Which is exactly the point of health care blogging right now, especially in the mental health world. There has been a void of critical information around these medications and treatment paradigms since the advent of Prozac 20 years ago. For too long most mental health websites and blogs have been blowing big wet kisses at Big Pharma and researchers and questioning very little. Just questioning the dominant medical paradigm in the mental health world counts as insight--the kind Carr went searching for initially--and things will only get better over time.

If the Net had been in widespread use in the early-90s, I sure as hell would've addressed my own depression far more skeptically than I was able to do at the time. Because there was no critical information and, as a result, no insight. And I sure paid a mighty price for that. But that's for another day.