Post by russmclean on Aug 3, 2009 14:43:28 GMT
With regard to the now definite EMEA ban on Coproxamol, and uncertainty whether it will also affect those 150,000 UK patients lucky enough to find a doctor willing to go the "Named Patient" route. Here is a detailed email which should raise the issue formally at the EMEA and EC Parliament......
Anyone wishing to email the MEP please say.
Best regards,
Russ
===================================
Dear Mr Hudghton,
In summary, here is the issue:-
1. The obscure pain analgesic Coproxamol was banned in the UK by the Medical Health Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on 1st January 2008. The reasoning was that it would reduce accidental and deliberate suicides.
2. Of the 1,700,000 UK patients issued a cummulative total of 7,500,000 Coproxamol prescriptions each year, the MHRA admitted in published documentation that there would be "some" patients left without suitable alternate pain management, and guaranteed that these patients would be protected and their wellbeing made safe. The MHRA subsequently broke their promises with worthless assurances.
The MHRA then introduced a flawed "Named Patient" system. They delicensed the product, and issued a policy that "responsibility for prescription of Coproxamol by UK doctors would fall on the prescriber".
3. The insurers and unions of doctors had what could best be described as a canaptic fit at the defective MHRA "Named Patient" safety net for patients who found alternate analgesia either too strong, too weak, or with intolerable side effects. The insurers refused to insure doctors. The medical unions such as MDDUS advised a blanket ban on any prescription of Coproxamol....
www.mddus.com/mddus/2637.html
or:
www.mddus.com/mddus/news-and-events/news/january-08/risk-alert-co-proxamol-withdrawal.aspx
4. Result: Tens of thousands left to live and die in unmedicated pain. We pressed the MHRA with a multi member petition to publish their Coproxamol complaint letters on-line. These show not just patients, but MP's, doctors, senior surgeons, heads of pain management clinics pleading for the MHRA to review the Coproxamol ban problem and many requesting the repair of the defective MHRA "Named Patient" system....
www.mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/es-foi/documents/foidisclosure/con049136.pdf
and:
www.mhra.gov.uk/Aboutus/Freedomofinformationanddataprotection/Freedomofinformation/MHRAinformationdisclosuresundertheFOIAct/Previousdisclosures/CON2023036
and:
www.mhra.gov.uk/Aboutus/Freedomofinformationanddataprotection/Freedomofinformation/MHRAinformationdisclosuresundertheFOIAct/Previousdisclosures/CON2023037
The MHRA ignored all of this.
5. BBC journalist Julia George contacted me (as one who has had to stop work and cease what was a ten year relatively pain free period where I was able to sign off state benefits and create 71 jobs over that decade). The result was the BBC television featured the MHRA Coproxamol ban mess three times....
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7540344.stm
6. The matter was also covered in THREE dedicated UK Parliamentary Debates on the MHRA Coproxamol ban. The MHRA were virtually DIRECTED from the will of Parliament to either reclassify the painkiller as a "Class A" drug, thereby handing the prescription back to the clinicians, or to fix the "Named Patient" flaw in the MHRA system that has lead to the inhumane position of thousands left without any effective pain management...
www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2005-07-13a.936.0
www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2007-01-17b.340.0
services.parliament.uk/hansard/Commons/ByDate/20090420/mainchamberdebates/part007.html
The MHRA arrogantly chose to ignore the UK Parliament.
7. The MHRA have falsely stated, as has Professor Hawton at the Oxford University Suicide Centre (yes there is one), compounded by publication in the British Medical Journal that the Coproxamol Ban is a raging success and suicides are down.
A] Their figures are misleading. Yes Coproxamol suicides went down, now they are increasing (even with a ban)....
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm081211/text/81211w0001.htm#08121144000017
B] The Cabinet Office no less, when requested by myself via the Freedom of Information Act, for updated figures concerning Coproxamol Suicide and as importantly the general UK suicide figures for baseline comparison are so far unable to comply. This renders dubious and highly questionable, the scientific quality of spin put out by the MHRA et al.
8. The MHRA stated that Paracetamol was just as good as Coproxamol. Under a Freedom of Information Act request made by the GP magazine PulseToday, the MHRA had to confess that prescriptions for Morphine are UP 40% following the Coproxamol ban. By deductive logic are the MHRA saying that Paracetamol is just as good as Morphine, or is their case for the Coproxamol ban flawed?
9. The Medical Health Regulator Professor, Dr., Sir Alasdair Breckenridge has repeatedly refused to address the MHRA Coproxamol "Named Patient" failure. The MHRA have referred patients such as myself to report their GP to the General Medical Council. This I refused to do. Instead, in autumn 2008 with my life ruined, I decided to report Dr Breckenridge to the GMC instead of my GP. This February Breckenridge removed his registration as a doctor from the GMC. Still he will not do anything about the tens of thousands of people left in untreated pain. Consequently the Honours Forfeiture Committee have been asked to review whether Breckenridge is fit to retain a Knighthood. Their reply is it usually takes a criminal conviction to remove an honour. So be it. In addition Breckenridge has previous controversy over his actions and question marks over his ability to act as head of the MHRA.....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TozBgI5LyGc
In fact the BBC Panorama team who conducted the above MHRA expose, said to their recollection, the MHRA have featured in more of their documentaries than any other. Should there be an award of some sort created for such a dubious honour?
10. At this time, the arduous and lengthy task of contacting each and every HM Coroner and Procurators Fiscal is being commenced to research whether anyone has committed suicide because of the LACK of analgesia where they were originally prescribed and subsequently denied Coproxamol has commenced. It will only take one, and a referral will be made to the Metropolitan Police to examine culpability of the MHRA and their officials in such a death.
In summary, the Medical Health Regulator had a most noble and honourable objective in aiming to reduce suicides through accidental and/or deliberate misuse of Coproxamol. However he has acted with the logic that if an Ambulance were to crash then ban all Ambulances.
Had the Medical Health Regulator listened to either one of the THREE UK Parliament Debates, or the BBC television, or the doctors, surgeons, pain management clinicians, MP's MSP's or Heads of Pain Management charities such as Arthritis Care and repaired the MHRA broken "Named Patient" Coproxamol safety net for prescribing Coproxamol post MHRA ban, I for one would have written to the Honours Committee and asked for the enoblement of Sir Alasdair Breckenridge from a Knight to a Lord.
However, he has failed miserably. He has responsibility for the inhumanity of letting thosuands of patients live and die in untreated pain.
Now we have the European Community invoking Article 31 of Directive 2001/83/EC to ban ALL prescription of Dextropropoxyphene.
This email is directed to my local MEP, Mr Ian Hudghton with the plea that an independent authority audit this Coproxamol ban mess, at MHRA and EMEA level, and that Mr Hudghton MEP raise this issue with the EMEA and on the debating floor of the EC Parliament.
Many thanks and best regards,
Russ McLean
Anyone wishing to email the MEP please say.
Best regards,
Russ
===================================
Dear Mr Hudghton,
In summary, here is the issue:-
1. The obscure pain analgesic Coproxamol was banned in the UK by the Medical Health Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on 1st January 2008. The reasoning was that it would reduce accidental and deliberate suicides.
2. Of the 1,700,000 UK patients issued a cummulative total of 7,500,000 Coproxamol prescriptions each year, the MHRA admitted in published documentation that there would be "some" patients left without suitable alternate pain management, and guaranteed that these patients would be protected and their wellbeing made safe. The MHRA subsequently broke their promises with worthless assurances.
The MHRA then introduced a flawed "Named Patient" system. They delicensed the product, and issued a policy that "responsibility for prescription of Coproxamol by UK doctors would fall on the prescriber".
3. The insurers and unions of doctors had what could best be described as a canaptic fit at the defective MHRA "Named Patient" safety net for patients who found alternate analgesia either too strong, too weak, or with intolerable side effects. The insurers refused to insure doctors. The medical unions such as MDDUS advised a blanket ban on any prescription of Coproxamol....
www.mddus.com/mddus/2637.html
or:
www.mddus.com/mddus/news-and-events/news/january-08/risk-alert-co-proxamol-withdrawal.aspx
4. Result: Tens of thousands left to live and die in unmedicated pain. We pressed the MHRA with a multi member petition to publish their Coproxamol complaint letters on-line. These show not just patients, but MP's, doctors, senior surgeons, heads of pain management clinics pleading for the MHRA to review the Coproxamol ban problem and many requesting the repair of the defective MHRA "Named Patient" system....
www.mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/es-foi/documents/foidisclosure/con049136.pdf
and:
www.mhra.gov.uk/Aboutus/Freedomofinformationanddataprotection/Freedomofinformation/MHRAinformationdisclosuresundertheFOIAct/Previousdisclosures/CON2023036
and:
www.mhra.gov.uk/Aboutus/Freedomofinformationanddataprotection/Freedomofinformation/MHRAinformationdisclosuresundertheFOIAct/Previousdisclosures/CON2023037
The MHRA ignored all of this.
5. BBC journalist Julia George contacted me (as one who has had to stop work and cease what was a ten year relatively pain free period where I was able to sign off state benefits and create 71 jobs over that decade). The result was the BBC television featured the MHRA Coproxamol ban mess three times....
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7540344.stm
6. The matter was also covered in THREE dedicated UK Parliamentary Debates on the MHRA Coproxamol ban. The MHRA were virtually DIRECTED from the will of Parliament to either reclassify the painkiller as a "Class A" drug, thereby handing the prescription back to the clinicians, or to fix the "Named Patient" flaw in the MHRA system that has lead to the inhumane position of thousands left without any effective pain management...
www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2005-07-13a.936.0
www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2007-01-17b.340.0
services.parliament.uk/hansard/Commons/ByDate/20090420/mainchamberdebates/part007.html
The MHRA arrogantly chose to ignore the UK Parliament.
7. The MHRA have falsely stated, as has Professor Hawton at the Oxford University Suicide Centre (yes there is one), compounded by publication in the British Medical Journal that the Coproxamol Ban is a raging success and suicides are down.
A] Their figures are misleading. Yes Coproxamol suicides went down, now they are increasing (even with a ban)....
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm081211/text/81211w0001.htm#08121144000017
B] The Cabinet Office no less, when requested by myself via the Freedom of Information Act, for updated figures concerning Coproxamol Suicide and as importantly the general UK suicide figures for baseline comparison are so far unable to comply. This renders dubious and highly questionable, the scientific quality of spin put out by the MHRA et al.
8. The MHRA stated that Paracetamol was just as good as Coproxamol. Under a Freedom of Information Act request made by the GP magazine PulseToday, the MHRA had to confess that prescriptions for Morphine are UP 40% following the Coproxamol ban. By deductive logic are the MHRA saying that Paracetamol is just as good as Morphine, or is their case for the Coproxamol ban flawed?
9. The Medical Health Regulator Professor, Dr., Sir Alasdair Breckenridge has repeatedly refused to address the MHRA Coproxamol "Named Patient" failure. The MHRA have referred patients such as myself to report their GP to the General Medical Council. This I refused to do. Instead, in autumn 2008 with my life ruined, I decided to report Dr Breckenridge to the GMC instead of my GP. This February Breckenridge removed his registration as a doctor from the GMC. Still he will not do anything about the tens of thousands of people left in untreated pain. Consequently the Honours Forfeiture Committee have been asked to review whether Breckenridge is fit to retain a Knighthood. Their reply is it usually takes a criminal conviction to remove an honour. So be it. In addition Breckenridge has previous controversy over his actions and question marks over his ability to act as head of the MHRA.....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TozBgI5LyGc
In fact the BBC Panorama team who conducted the above MHRA expose, said to their recollection, the MHRA have featured in more of their documentaries than any other. Should there be an award of some sort created for such a dubious honour?
10. At this time, the arduous and lengthy task of contacting each and every HM Coroner and Procurators Fiscal is being commenced to research whether anyone has committed suicide because of the LACK of analgesia where they were originally prescribed and subsequently denied Coproxamol has commenced. It will only take one, and a referral will be made to the Metropolitan Police to examine culpability of the MHRA and their officials in such a death.
In summary, the Medical Health Regulator had a most noble and honourable objective in aiming to reduce suicides through accidental and/or deliberate misuse of Coproxamol. However he has acted with the logic that if an Ambulance were to crash then ban all Ambulances.
Had the Medical Health Regulator listened to either one of the THREE UK Parliament Debates, or the BBC television, or the doctors, surgeons, pain management clinicians, MP's MSP's or Heads of Pain Management charities such as Arthritis Care and repaired the MHRA broken "Named Patient" Coproxamol safety net for prescribing Coproxamol post MHRA ban, I for one would have written to the Honours Committee and asked for the enoblement of Sir Alasdair Breckenridge from a Knight to a Lord.
However, he has failed miserably. He has responsibility for the inhumanity of letting thosuands of patients live and die in untreated pain.
Now we have the European Community invoking Article 31 of Directive 2001/83/EC to ban ALL prescription of Dextropropoxyphene.
This email is directed to my local MEP, Mr Ian Hudghton with the plea that an independent authority audit this Coproxamol ban mess, at MHRA and EMEA level, and that Mr Hudghton MEP raise this issue with the EMEA and on the debating floor of the EC Parliament.
Many thanks and best regards,
Russ McLean
