Happy New Year Blah Blah Blah

After a long break, I have decided to resume my intermittent blogging. I know that it has been some time, and that many of you may have moved on to more regular and more exciting blogs, but nevertheless, I still have the urge to vent.

So I hope that you have all had a good Christmas, Hannukah, New Year, and New Year.

Part of the reason that I have been quiet is that I now find myself on both sides of the fence. All of a sudden, I have been planted inside a palace of power, a domain of dominance... an institution of influence. But enough of the alliterations. I have frequently complained about the powers that be - now even though I may be a speck or a fly on the wall I can see some of the machinations that lead to my complaints, and I am not impressed.

Partly I am not impressed by how bureaucratic and slow large organisations work. Partly I am not impressed with my own lack of enthusiasm at changing any of this. Nominally I may attend a committee that can change things. But I realise now how competing interests dilute progress. And I also see how committees have to justify their own existence.

So I am conflicted - I have better things to do with my time, but I still want to be on the inside, looking for an opportunity to improve things, even a little. Perhaps I am merely a pawn being played by others, but it means that I must be even more careful about what I write and blog about, lest I inadvertently divulge state secrets, or even worse my identity.

And so I leave you with two little tidbits for today:

1. This blog has been nominated for the Inaugural Australian Medical Blog Awards set up by DrCris at AppleQuack and Scalpel's Edge. If you think I deserve it, vote for me. Otherwise feel free to nominate another Australian Medical Blogger, like The Girl.

2. A fascinating piece from The SMH on the fraudsters allegedly dodgy dealings at Advanced Medical Institute. You may recall that these are the group that run are associated with the Heart Check group from my post here and here:

• Authorities launch investigations into sex ads company - The Sydney Morning Herald
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  Authorities launch investigations into sex ads company
  Kelly Burke, Rachel Browne and Alex McDonald
  The Sydney Morning Herald, February 1, 2009
  
  

  Erectile dysfunction king … Jack Vaisman, founder and owner of Advanced Medical Institute and (inset) one of his controversial former billboards. Photo: Jacky Ghossein from SMH

  
  
  AUSTRALIA'S king of erectile dysfunction, "Dr" Jack Vaisman, is being investigated by government agencies in two states.
  
  The NSW Office of Fair Trading and Victorian Consumer Affairs confirmed last week they were examining the operations of Mr Vaisman's company, the Advanced Medical Institute (AMI).
  
  NSW Fair Trading Minister Virginia Judge has asked dissatisfied customers to come forward with their complaints of alleged unconscionable contracts and undeliverable guarantees.
  
  Mr Vaisman claims almost 500,000 men over the past decade have responded to AMI's billboard-sized promises of longer lasting sex.
  
  The NSW regulator believes the disaffection is probably much higher than the actual complaints received as men are too embarrassed to lodge formal complaints over the $4000 contracts which commit them to 18 months of "treatment" and severely limit their access to the company's money-back guarantees.
  
  The thriving business predicated on men's sexual-performance anxiety has delivered millions of dollars to AMI coffers and spawned more than 20 clinics in Australia and New Zealand, and, most recently, a discreet consultancy in London.
  
  Last year AMI, registered as a public company on the US NASDAQ, posted an almost 50 per cent increase in gross profit, from $8million to $12million, in the July to September quarter alone - profit the company attributed to its more effective advertising campaigns (at a cost of $500,000 a quarter), increased brand name recognition, and the effectiveness of its products.
  
  Yet AMI's founder and owner Mr Vaisman, a portly Ukrainian migrant in his early 60s with a good suit and a comb-over, denies he is a very wealthy man. Comfortably off, he'll concede. But far from accumulating personal wealth, Mr Vaisman claims he is delivering savings worth millions of dollars to Australian taxpayers every year.
  
  "All my consultations, we never use Medicare," he said. "Can you imagine if 90,000 impotent patients went to their GP every year? At $45 or $50 a consultation, what would happen? The Government would lose millions of dollars."
  
  Sexual dysfunction, says Mr Vaisman, is a quality of life condition and if you want quality of life you have to pay: "It's like if you want a better car or you want a better house, you pay more money."
  
  Mr Vaisman is under fire from multiple corners, but that is hardly new. In 1996 his former company, On Clinic Australia, was prosecuted for importing $500,000 worth of unregistered drugs - the charges were proved but no conviction was recorded, with the Court of Criminal Appeal acknowledging the probably inadvertent nature of the offences.
  
  Aside from much-publicised run-ins with the Advertising Standards Bureau, there has also been attention from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over allegedly misleading claims relating to his controversial treatments and AMI's promises of guaranteed results or money back. Mr Vaisman rejects the latter allegation outright: "We cannot guarantee a result but we always guarantee money back."
  
  Meanwhile, the chorus of caveats and criticisms from the medical fraternity multiplies monthly.
  
  Dr Chris McMahon, associate professor of the Australian Centre for Sexual Health, has dealt with former AMI patients, and alleges the majority have not received what they thought they paid for.
  
  AMI's apomorphine-based nasal spray has not been the subject of clinical trials, so its efficacy remains untested, he says.
  
  "There's a certain logic to it," he conceded. "I could also argue that because Panadol is effective as a tablet for a headache we could crush it up and put it into some K-Y Jelly and rub it into the scalp. Now we all know that is ridiculous - the way that you would prove or disprove that is to do a clinical trial."
  
  The non-profit Impotence Australia receives on average about five complaints about AMI each week. When patients fail to respond to the nasal spray, lozenges are offered but invariably the patient ends up facing injection therapy, the association's chief executive, Brett McCann, says, which is where many men will draw the line.
  
  "[I've seen] one guy who had only one arm … It is pretty difficult to inject when you've only got one arm. He said he would never have agreed to it had he known."
  
  But formal complaints are comparatively rare, says Professor Basil Donovan, from the University of NSW's National Centre in HIV, Epidemiology and Clinical Research.
  
  "Men are too embarrassed to come forward," he said. "It is an area prone to exploitation."
  
  The Australian Medical Association has expressed concern that some of AMI's initial customer contact does not involve a registered medical practitioner. Moreover, the company's practice of conducting phone consultations is unlikely to identify health issues such as heart disease, stroke, obesity and diabetes that can often be underlying causes of erectile dysfunction, AMA president Dr Rosanna Capolingua says.
  
  Dr David Malouf, the vice-president of the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand, says the treatments AMI offered at large mark-ups could be provided at a much cheaper rate by a GP.
  
  "But the reason [GPs] don't is because these treatments are less effective than others, such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra."
  
  Such mainstream treatments are also largely without the horror side effects sometimes associated with injectibles, says Dr Malouf, warning that 30 per cent of men may develop local pain at the site of the injection.
  
  "I've seen bruising, scarring, curvature of the penis and priapism [persistent painful erection]. I had one patient who was treated with one of these agents. He was given a sheet of paper with a number to call if anything went wrong, which it did. He was effectively told [by AMI] 'there is nothing we can do, you have to go to a hospital emergency department' … That case of priapism was so severe, it permanently damaged his erectile function. He went from having a mild erectile problem to having a non-functioning penis. And he was a young guy, too."
  
  Dr Malouf says he also had a 17-year-old boy who was prescribed treatment for premature ejaculation from an AMI clinic: "I would have thought that was entirely inappropriate."
  
  When The Sun-Herald put this to Mr Vaisman last week, he said: "If a patient asks for help, does it make any difference of the age?"
  
  The following day, public relations firm Wilkinson Media issued a statement saying AMI had a policy of not providing treatment to people under the age of 18.
  
  Mr Vaisman has never been registered as a medical practitioner in Australia, a sacrifice made, he claims, to stay in this country. With a mother, wife and daughter to support - the former two suffering serious health problems - a year-long hospital internship was out of the question when the Ukrainian-trained doctor arrived in 1987: "This was the price I had to pay for my freedom."
  
  That much of the clinics' work with clients takes place over the phone is logical, Mr Vaisman argues, as erectile dysfunction is very much a self-diagnosed condition.
  
  "If a patient says to the doctor, I cannot get an erection, there is no test that can prove or disprove this, you have to take his word."
  
  It is also an effective technique, he says, in protecting anonymity.
  
  With the exception of occasional crustiness or bleeding around the nose, Vaisman says his nasal sprays have practically no side effects. The risk of priapism is no more prevalent with the use of injectibles than with more conventional treatments such as Viagra, he adds, while AMI's 24-hour hotline is available to advise in such emergencies.
  
  Mr Vaisman says Impotence Australia, one of AMI's most vocal critics, is in direct competition and accepts sponsorship from large pharmaceutical companies such as Viagra's manufacturer, Pfizer.
  
  Impotence Australia declares it accepts sponsorship from pharmaceutical companies on its website, but denies the direct competitor claims made by Mr Vaisman.
  
  "We're not offering any treatment," said Mr McCann. "We refer people either to GPs or sex therapists or we give general information."
  
  Mr Vaisman describes himself as a pioneer: "We have a lot of criticism. But I am fighting for what I believe is right. I am a fighter."

  
  
  
• Why erectile dysfunction client wanted his cash back - The Sydney Morning Herald
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  Why erectile dysfunction client wanted his cash back
  Kelly Burke
  The Sydney Morning Herald, February 1, 2009
  
  AT THE age of 35, Nick* was appalled when he started experiencing difficulty maintaining an erection during sexual intercourse with his partner.
  
  The Advanced Medical Institute's "Want Longer Lasting SEX?" billboards seemed to be screaming at him from every corner.
  
  Nick succumbed to their promise. He confessed to the first male AMI consultant that the "open relationship" he had been coerced into by his girlfriend - she could seek other sexual partners - might be the underlying cause of his physical problem.
  
  The consultant listened and left. Next came a female consultant who told Nick that regardless of his relationship status, there would be no improvement unless he received drug treatment. She left. Then came the "deal closer".
  
  "She was upbeat, articulate and very pushy. When I baulked at signing a 12-month contract committing myself to drug treatments worth around $3000 … she basically made me feel as though I was making a mistake I would suffer for later."
  
  Nick said he was pressured to buy a month's supply of nasal spray and a gel for about $350. The spray had limited effect and the gel did not work on him. When he asked for a refund, the company refused, arguing there were no guarantees the products work for everyone.
  
  Months later, Nick's relationship with his partner became exclusive. He says his erection problems vanished, without the assistance of medication.
  
  * Name has been changed to protect identity

  
  
  
• From Siberian gulag to 'this beautiful country' - The Sydney Morning Herald
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  From Siberian gulag to 'this beautiful country'
  Rachel Browne and Kelly Burke
  The Sydney Morning Herald, February 1, 2009
  
  

  Rags to riches .. Jack Vaisman. Photo: Jacky Ghossein from SMH

  
  
  JACK/Jacov/Jakov/Javov Vaisman/Vaysman/Waterman was born in Moscow/Ovruch/Odessa/Kiev/Ukraine/place unknown on August 23 and 28, in 1945 and 1946, according to the personal details provided by the company director and shareholder to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
  
  But life has long been complex for the self-proclaimed former Soviet political prisoner, whose path to Australian citizenship was smoothed by a former prime minister.
  
  Trouble started for the young doctor, who had graduated from the Donetsk State Medical University in 1968, when he applied for an exit visa in the mid-1970s. He says his application to leave the Soviet Union resulted in his expulsion from the university, where he says he was associate professor of gynaecology.
  
  In 1980, as he was preparing to conduct an operation, the KGB came calling.
  
  Vaisman says he spent the next six years as a prisoner in Siberia, first logging forests then building a power station.
  
  "In winter it's minus 62 … the birds drop dead mid-flight," he recalls. "The prisoners were loaded on to the truck and every half-hour we were told to get off and run behind the truck, otherwise we would be frozen before we came to the job. Every morning you wake up in the barracks and somebody is dead. "Nobody knows why, nobody cares. It took me almost 1½ years until they realised I was a doctor."
  
  On one occasion Vaisman was told by the prison's chief commander that if he did not cure him of gonorrhoea in three days he would be executed.
  
  "I treated him in two days … I saved my own life."
  
  Throughout the 1980s, Vaisman's parents-in-law, who had emigrated to Australia, had been lobbying Bob Hawke.
  
  Vaisman's name was on a list Hawke took to Moscow in 1987, the former prime minister has confirmed to The Sun-Herald, and petitioned for his release.
  
  In 1987, while still on parole, Vaisman was told he and his wife, daughter and mother were free to leave the country if he left his papers behind. Vaisman arrived in Adelaide with two suitcases and $200. Six years later, using $9000 he had saved from his jobs in a service station and a mattress factory, Vaisman opened his first clinic.
  
  "I don't believe in God, but every morning I pray," says Vaisman. "I am in this beautiful country of opportunity. I came without language, without money, without anything, but I had an aim and I am here … I tell my grandchildren, some time you will remember that your grandfather brought you to this beautiful country. He risked his life, he risked his career, everything, to bring you to the best country in the world."