Smells Fishy

I’m often confused by what is and isn’t considered unethical in the medical profession, but I have to say — Dr. Julian Bailes selling fish oil directly to his own patients seems tacky as hell to me. It it sounds more like something you would buy off the back of a horse-drawn cart in the 1800’s instead of from a multi-millionaire neurosurgeon and university professor.

Now I don’t doubt that fish oil is good for you — but I’d rather get my fish oil from actual fish instead of expensive pill form, thank you very much. I mean, unless the pills have a ginger-miso glaze and come with a bag of mesclun mix. If that’s the case, I take it all back.

I first heard about Bailes and his magical fish oil elixir potion after the Sago disaster — and to hear the media talk, you’d think it was the fish oil alone that saved Randal McCloy’s life. Forgive me for doubting that. But if you’re curious, Bailes takes cash or check, made payable to him. Classy.

It gets a little better though. Bailes was introduced to the business of fish oil peddling by none other than Dr. Barry Sears, creator of the Zone Diet, and major player in the 40 BILLION dollar-a-year diet industry. Sigh.

Like I sort of hinted at before, much of what is considered acceptable practice in the medical profession looks a whole hell of a lot like payola and kickbacks to many of us. But if Julian Bailes wants to hawk dietary supplements ala “Doctor” Phil, I guess it’s nobody’s buisness but his own.

And I’ll bet business is good.

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Bonus — The American Medical Student Association grades medical schools on conflicts of interest. WVU gets a D.