Another Response to Carlat the Magnificent

I'm not eager to recommend therapy to another MD, but I wouldn't mind if psychiatrist and fervent CME critic Daniel Carlat took up some kind of regular relaxation technique. Perhaps, simply deep-breathing exercises—particularly before posting at his blog.

The effort might otherwise prevent hasty, arguably emotion-driven, and inaccurate assumptions about those who dare to disagree with him on the subject of industry-supported continuing medical education (CME). I am specifically referring to his post yesterday, which referred to online critical comments of a recent BusinessWeek article ("Teaching Doctors—or Selling to Them?"). One of these online comments (which can be found here) was mine, and in addition, I cited the BW author, Arlene Weintraub, at this blog for failing to distinguish between overt pharma marketing and CME and her omission of relevant information about Zimmer Holdings.

What I and other online critics of the BW article apparently failed to do, Dr. Carlat implies, is reveal every darn thing about ourselves in the comment box as a show of transparency. (Of course, Dr. Carlat's focus on the article's critics diverts attention from what is actually justified criticism of the BW article.) Some of the critics, who did provide their names, are (gasp) affiliated with the CME business—which could be easily determined by your basic fall-off-a-log Google sleuthing. With respect to my comment, Dr. Carlat wrote the following:

But wait—there's more!

B. Martin criticizes Weintraub's "inability to differentiate between outright pharma marketing and the current status of industry-funded CME." She does not disclose that she is Barbara Martin, who, on her Pathophilia website, identifies herself as a "formerly practicing board-certified neurologist" who is now a full time writer in the "intriguing world of pharmaceutical marketing and pharma-supported continuing medical education (CME)." I guess that means her job is dependent on industry support of CME.

For perspective, here's my actual comment at the BW site:

B. Martin, MD
Aug 6, 2008 5:24 PM GMT
In addition to Ms. Weintraub's inability to differentiate between outright pharma marketing and the current status of industry-funded CME, she also neglects to indicate that Zimmer's move away from funding MECC-sponsored CME is likely related to the company's Deferred Prosecution Agreement with US Attorneys: http://bmartinmd.com/2008/08/businessweek-engages-in-sloppy.html.

So what I did do was provide a link to this blog, which Dr. Carlat failed to notice or inform his blog readers. For an online comment, at least in my opinion, that's as transparent as cellophane. I would also correct Dr. Carlat's interpretation of my About page. I am indeed a formerly practicing neurologist, and I was employed, after my clinical experience, in pharma marketing and, later, in the CME business (which accounts for my knowledge of CME). Today, I am a full-time, freelance writer; however, it is inaccurate to say that my current job is "dependent on industry support of CME."

There. Deep bloody breath.