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Medical experts furious that doctors will be paid to dole out 'risky' statins

DOCTORS are set to get extra payments to hand out controversial statin drugs to patients who face a low risk of ever developing heart disease.

Medical experts have denounced the planGETTY

Medical experts have argued dishing out the cholesterol-lowering drug will not benefit everybody

It could mean four in 10 adults, including most of those in late middle age, are put on regular doses in a move that “medicalises” healthy people, leaving them at risk of side-effects including diabetes and memory loss. 

Medical experts are angry that doctors are being offered incentives to prescribe the drugs by a government watchdog, which they say is of “doubtful benefit and may cause harm”. 

Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says GPs should get financial incentives to prescribe statins to patients with high blood pressure even if they only have a low risk of developing heart disease over the next 10 years. 

Yet many heart specialists say that for a large number of patients the benefits do not outweigh the risks, which include diabetes, cataracts, debilitating muscle pains, memory loss and fatigue. 

GPs want to do what is best for each patient, there’s much more to that than handing out drugs

Dr Andrew Green

They say doctors instead should be advising patients to follow a healthy diet and lifestyle to decrease the risk of heart attacks. 

Klim McPherson, professor of public health at Oxford University, said: “This is shocking. Incentivising doctors to dish out drugs to patients who may not benefit and more importantly may suffer side effects is wrong and unethical.” 

Professor McPherson, 73, who recently weaned himself off a two-year statin prescription after suffering debilitating muscle pains added: “This should be a matter of individual patient preference with patients fully aware of the risks.” 

Family doctor Dr Des Spence, who works for the British Medical Journal, said: “Once you incentivise GPs to do things it distorts patient care. Such a recommendation may lead to people being coerced on to medication not in their best interests.” 

Dr Andrew Green, chairman of the British Medical Association’s clinical and prescribing committee, added: “Statins are important for patients at high risk. However, this is not the case for many others. 

“Having targets for statin prescriptions is not the best way to measure good quality care. 

“GPs want to do what is best for each patient, there’s much more to that than handing out drugs.” 

Last year NICE told doctors to lower the threshold for statins to those with only a 10 per cent risk of heart disease, making four in 10 adults, including most late-middle aged men and large numbers of women in the same age group, eligible for the drugs. 

Part of doctors’ complex funding depends on meeting government targets.

If this new proposal is approved, statins would be added to the target list and doctors would have to meet the new NICE guidelines on prescribing the drugs to get a share of their funds. 

In effect GPs would be paid to issue the drugs to patients at low risk of heart disease. 

Last week the Sunday Express reported how heart specialists Professor Simon Capewell, Dr Aseem Malhotra and Dr Andrew Apps had urged doctors to be “transparent” with patients about the risks and benefits of statins. 

They also said family doctors should refrain from “scaremongering” about the risks if patients stop taking them. 

The warning, published in The Prescriber journal, said statins do nothing to increase life expectancy for low-risk patients and instead expose healthy people to potential side effects that impair quality of life. 

Health professionals have until February 23 to send comments to NICE. 

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    47 Comments
    218 days ago
    Approveds
    Try vitamin K2, together with vitamin D3
    218 days ago
    Shady Lady
    i read this book and this author said that Dr's get paid for prescribing meds that's why they push any kind of drugs >>> they don't care about their patients they just care about the money and that is ashame to play with our health issues and are killing their patients >>> i  was on Lipitor and i have all the symtoms listed above plus more NO MORE STATINS for me NEVER I don't care what the Dr says 
    google statins you'll see what statins do to you and your health


    672 days ago
    pump handle
    Why are GPs being bribed to prescribe this poison to more and more patients??
    704 days ago
    Sandy
    Evil things doctor insisted I take them, took one that night and could hardly get up in the morning had to crawl to the loo as my legs seemed to have gone! That was it I took the box and threw them in the bin. After that I found out by research and even looking at the video's on YouTube about the great cholesterol myth and how low cholesterol is better than high - i.e. more deaths with heart related problems had low cholesterol not high. Each to their own but I would never take another do more harm than good.
    703 days ago
    Approveds
    Cook with rapeseed oil, it same cholesterol reducing effect as 20mg of statins, double a standard daily dose, If cooking meat, sprinkle rosemary on to stop acrylamides. Dribble oilive-oil over all your food, as it lowers blood pressure, and REAPAIRS the heart.
    If you want even more protection, mix a small bottle of walnut oil, in with your litre bottle of olive oil.

    Statins lower your CoQ10, which then destroys your muscles, and your heart is a muscle. Canned sardines are full of CoQ10 !
    703 days ago
    Sandy
    Thanks some good tips there!
    218 days ago
    Shady Lady
    after all the damage statins did to my body I started taking CO Q10 i hope i go into remission and get my health back 
    704 days ago
    VoiceOfReason
    My doctor tried to shove statins down my throat. I told my GP that just because a prescription was written does not mean that it would be filled or taken. No thanks to statins for me. Too many bad side effects and according to my cardiologist, there is nothing wrong with my heart. I'll trust the cardiologist who did any invasive test over the GP who did none at all.
    550 days ago
    ChristopherWunsch
    Hold on to your Cardiologist...he/she must actually read and discern the data for himself...a very rare find these days!
    704 days ago
    Bavarianpete
    Remember, the NHS is simply a football n the eyes of politicians and a big aspect of modern politics is about bribery and blackmail: to Hell with the electorate and those needing medical care.
    704 days ago
    the light
    I always suspected that doctors were being paid to prescribe certain drugs which may actually cause patients to need more drugs to counteract the problems the first lot produced. However. I always thought that the drugs companies were giving the GPs the backhanders. It is an absolute disgrace that taxpayers money is being used to make even more profits for the drugs companies!
    703 days ago
    davidw, cuckoo watch
    The tories shafting the public for money ?. What a shocker.
    704 days ago
    Nowhereonearth
    FHW13.......i cannot understand why you are on them at all ..4.8 !!!
    704 days ago
    DavidP1
    A mentally competent adult - and most of us are exactly that - has an absolute right to refuse any medical treatment even if that refusal results in their death. A doctor has no right to proceed in the face of objection. Legally the patient has no obligation to listen to anything the doctor says. The law is clear.
    704 days ago
    Cookie
    I was prescribed simvastatin at the age of 69 (female) and was not informed of any side effects, with only symptom being high cholesterol, although my HDL cholesterol was good. This is the only prescribed drug I ever had problems with. I had pain in my hip and thigh that I never had before and was too tired to do any exercise. I gained 10 pounds mostly from inactivity. My doctor shamed me for gaining weight and said I should get more exercise. This made me angry enough to get an MRI (against doctor's advice) and found I had 0% of plaque and less than a 5% chance of getting heart disease. When I think of all the people who are taking that drug who don't really need to it makes me sick.l What angers me most is that doctors don't believe you when you tell them your symptoms. I think we should find out if we really need them. I only took them for a year but ended up with a malignant cyst, pain, a yeast infection, toenail fungus, and a bacterial infection. It cuts off your CoQ10, which fights off cancer, and nobody ever told me to take CoQ10 either. Now they are claiming that it prevents cancer. I believe that is a lie. That is what makes me the most angry--lies.
    704 days ago
    davisc
    I had genetic testing for an ancestry site and there is a gene that makes you susceptible to muscle damage from statins,I didn't have that gene but did have memory loss till I stopped statins.They keep on at me to take them but have said no.
    They give me lots of tests and when I jokingly said you must be getting paid per test,the nurse said yes.
    703 days ago
    Approveds
    Cook with rapeseed oil, it same cholesterol reducing effect as 20mg of statins, double a standard daily dose, If cooking meat, sprinkle rosemary on to stop acrylamides. Dribble oilive-oil over all your food, as it lowers blood pressure, and REAPAIRS the heart.
    If you want even more protection, mix a small bottle of walnut oil, in with your litre bottle of olive oil.

    Statins lower your CoQ10, which then destroys your muscles, and your heart is a muscle. Canned sardines are full of CoQ10 !
    218 days ago
    Shady Lady
    Oh Cookie if you only knew the FDA passes any drugs even if they don't pass just so everyone can sell them and get more money it's all about the MONEY IN THIS WORLD 
    704 days ago
    [removed]
    This comment has been deleted
    550 days ago
    ChristopherWunsch
    I cant speak for the UK, but in the US, I was on a Statin for 3 years which led to a horrible illness and a 28 day hospitalization in which I was like a patient with advanced Alzheimers disease. Brain Biopsy revealed Apoptosis (Holes in my brain from Brain Cell Death) and a Mitochondrial DNA mutation, both caused by my statin use, according to the UCSD Statin Effects Study, I enrolled in...I remain disabled 13 years this October..Chronic muscle pain, Profound fatigue, Neuropathy...horrid drugs for a minimal chance at avoiding a heart attack.. 0.34% absolute risk reduction...yes, less than 1/2 of 1% chance at avoiding a heart attack...Whatever happened to informed consent? Whereby patients must be educated as to the real risks and benefits of the drugs we put into our body.
    550 days ago
    ChristopherWunsch
    Despite the UCSD Study and Dr Golomb speaking to my prescriber, he continued to push me to take a statin...I fired him and found a new doctor who knows the risks of lowering cholesterol
    704 days ago
    Ricardos
    We can't expect new cases of demetia to fall any time soon then.
    704 days ago
    Mike Spilligan
    I support what many have said here. I'm sure that doctors love "co-operating" with the pharma companies - especially as it's so lucrative and they can tick another box for patient satisfaction.
    A friend of mine had a minor heart problem. He was prescribed no less than eleven different drugs / tablets etc. It was almost a full-time job to organize that. He looked them up on the internet and found that only two related to his condition; two neutral; the other 7 possibly dangerous. On complaining to his GP he was told - you take 'em, my boy. They'll do you good. - Very convincing !
    704 days ago
    cathym
    quit statins a couple of years ago after years on different statins....couldn't walk for muscle weakness and pain...then I was told I was diabetic....after quitting statins my blood sugar levels are good...I think it was the statins that was pushing it up...hence the reason I will never again take statins...gp was not very pleased when I told him
    703 days ago
    Approveds
    Cook with rapeseed oil, it same cholesterol reducing effect as 20mg of statins, double a standard daily dose, If cooking meat, sprinkle rosemary on to stop acrylamides. Dribble oilive-oil over all your food, as it lowers blood pressure, and REAPAIRS the heart.
    If you want even more protection, mix a small bottle of walnut oil, in with your litre bottle of olive oil.

    Statins lower your CoQ10, which then destroys your muscles, and your heart is a muscle. Canned sardines are full of CoQ10 !
    645 days ago
    Clovermark
    Rapeseed oil is one of the worst oils to use. Best is butter, lard or coconut oil. All good natural unprocessed oils.
    703 days ago
    JackieThomas
    we have to listen to our bodies.
    704 days ago
    FHW13
    Much to the annoyance of my children, I am on statins. My last cholesterol test showed a reading of 4.8
    645 days ago
    Clovermark
    Why would you not listen to your children who can research the Internet for the truths. I want my Mum to live healthy for as long as she can and so I would assume your children want the same for you. Live longer and healthier without statins. My last cholersterol test was 7.5 no way am I going on statins.
    704 days ago
    VivMilZ
    I am a middle age female work fulltime and get in a small amount of walking each day. I am in good health overall and am not overweight yet a recent blood test reveals cholesterol to be 6. The Doctor said is not from my diet but most likely from my liver. Liver function test was perfect. On this basis The doctor tried to prescribe Statins. I JUST SAID NO!!
    704 days ago
    davisc
    80% of cholesterol is made by the liver.Cutting it down by food intake does nothing as the liver makes up the difference.As you get older studies have proved much to the health industries chagrin that people with a low cholesterol count tend to die earlier.
    When,during the annual statin battle,I mentioned this to the doctor she said she had read that too but still nagged.
    550 days ago
    ChristopherWunsch
    Statins lower cholesterol by blocking Acetyl CoA Reductase enzyme, the first of 200 steps in the Mevalonate pathway, and by blocking this first step, Each and Every following step is blocked...Vitamin D, Testosterone, Estrogen, Dolichols, Steroid Hormones etc etc... Each and every cell in our body contains Cholesterol,,,most abundantly in the Brain...
    704 days ago
    [removed]
    This comment has been deleted
    704 days ago
    FHW13
    I stopped having the flu jab five years ago because it made me feel so ill when I had it. I have not even had a bad cold since, and I feel far more fit and healthy than I ever did previously. Having the flu jab is just earning money for your local surgery! I have a friend whose wife is a nurse at our local GPs, and when I asked her how many members of their (Quite considerable!) staff had the flu jab, she replied "None of us!"
    702 days ago
    Duggan
    THAT doesn't surprise me. On booking an appointment for a blood test I was breezily told 'and you'll have your flu jab at the same time'. It took me all my time to refuse politely - I was itching to tell them EXACTLY where they COULD stick it!!
    704 days ago
    corfukathy
    this is criminal. doctors will put pressure on gullible people to take drugs they don't need. that earns a prison term for anyone on the street
    704 days ago
    HugoFurst
    GPs were put on a bonus scheme years ago for getting as many patients as possible on statins.
    704 days ago
    davisc
    My doctor admitted that to me too.
    704 days ago
    Particle
    My doctor nagged me into accepting a prescription for statins. When I got home and looked them up on the net I saw a list of possible side effects as long as the proverbial arm. Screwed up the prescription and dropped it in the bin.
    704 days ago
    udonmalc
    browne envelopes flying to all our doctors from the drug company.wake up people statins are dangerous.
    704 days ago
    rjy584
    statins turned me into a cripple
    704 days ago
    davisc
    Check how many on the NICE panel have shares in the companies producing statins.There should be no opharmasutical share holders on there.Are they pushing the drug companies products for personal gain.
    704 days ago
    headtilt
    Natural statin is red rice yeast
    550 days ago
    ChristopherWunsch
    headtilt...red yeast rice is what Statins were modeled from...they do the same thing, and have the potential to cause the same adverse effects.
    704 days ago
    headtilt
    They will do anything to sell this poison! What ethics??
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