KY Board of Medical Licensure going after medical director of 25 Again

[Esq]

https://www.courier-journal.com/sto...e-hormone-doctor-license-25-again/1016968001/

Just caught this over the weekend. The KBML is going after the medical director of the very large and well-known Louisville-based hormone clinic 25 Again (formerly Body Shapes Medical) for prescribing thyroid and testosterone to people with "normal" levels.
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I've never been a patient there, but the clinic is well known in this area of the country with 8 locations in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana and significant advertising. I have no idea about the standard of care, but regardless it is a bit frightening that a state licensure board would go after a physician for prescribing testosterone to patients with "normal" levels, which I assume the KBML considers to be the standard LabCorp range. Scary for those of us being treated with "normal" levels and feeling so much better.

 

[Systemlord]

Those of us who want an optimal life this is scary to say the least, we all know normal is different for everyone. Some guys are normal in the 1200 ranges, midrange for them is 600 and will feel nowhere near normal at those levels. It's alright to prescribe SSRI's that lower our hormones, but it's not alright to elevate our levels to within high normal.

 

[Esq]

Those of us who want an optimal life this is scary to say the least, we all know normal is different for everyone. Some guys are normal in the 1200 ranges, midrange for them is 600 and will feel nowhere near normal at those levels. It's alright to prescribe SSRI's that lower our hormones, but it's not alright to elevate our levels to within high normal.

Absolutely. It's statements like these from the article that are particularly concerning. From a physician who testified against her at her KBML hearing: "Ali later said Bates' practice of given hormones to healthy patients was like “giving oxycontin for back pain when Motrin would do.”
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And from the KBML's lawyer: “It is like the opioid epidemic,” she said. “The board doesn't turn its eye because patients are happy to receive their medications and make no complaints.”
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Really? Hormone optimization is akin to overprescribing opiods? What a false equivalence.

 

[Systemlord]

Absolutely. It's statements like these from the article that are particularly concerning. From a physician who testified against her at her KBML hearing: "Ali later said Bates' practice of given hormones to healthy patients was like “giving oxycontin for back pain when Motrin would do.”
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And from the KBML's lawyer: “It is like the opioid epidemic,” she said. “The board doesn't turn its eye because patients are happy to receive their medications and make no complaints.”
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Really? Hormone optimization is akin to overprescribing opiods? What a false equivalence.

Then you have these pharmaceuticals companies lobbying congress to change the law to benefit them with who are now off limits to prosecution for selling opioids without anyone to rein them in. It's the fear and propaganda about hormone therapy driving this machine.

I can't help but feel big pharma is pushing this agenda.

 

[DragonBits]

Then you have these pharmaceuticals companies lobbying congress to change the law to benefit them with who are now off limits to prosecution for selling opioids without anyone to rein them in. It's the fear and propaganda about hormone therapy driving this machine.

I can't help but feel big pharma is pushing this agenda.

I cannot fathom why big pharma would want to shut down this industry? Care to spin why pharma companies should be concerned?

From the article, this would screw up a lot of people.

Q. What is considered the normal range for testosterone?
A. The Endocrine Society says a study of 9,000 men in the U.S. and Europe found the normal level for men 19 to 39 years old is 264 to 916 nanongrams (one billionth of a gram) per deciliter (one tenth of a liter).

It's vaguely possible insurance companies are worried if hormone therapy proves to be too popular and helpful to your health, then people will start to want health insurance to cover this. Maybe there will be more demand for tighter ranges of what defines low T, not such a broad range that excludes nearly every man.

Or this could just be another example of the nanny state.

So for SSRIs, should they require a neurotransmitters blood test before prescribing?

 

[Systemlord]

So for SSRIs, should they require a neurotransmitters blood test before prescribing?

Doctors typically hand out SSRI's without any testing, "here you take this twice daily and let's see what happens". In others they have no idea one way or the other what it will do, there are studies showing long term effects. All that matters is the patient feels better and that's all that matters, however a guy goes on a trial TRT and feels great for 6 months and another doctors says your levels were normal and we are taking you off TRT! Here is some SSRI's to make your depression.

It's ok for drugs, but not hormones, when low hormones is the problem.

 

[FeelingLost]

How do we know if this ((( 25 Again ))) my god what a shitty name isn't one of those T farms that shoots you full of pellets as long as you got money. Pushing your trough to 1500 and loading you up with AI's so you can stand it. My town Denver is full of those places. Those kinds of places need to be shutdown. They will cause congress to act and we all will suffer.

 

[CoastWatcher]

How do we know if this ((( 25 Again ))) my god what a shitty name isn't one of those T farms that shoots you full of pellets as long as you got money. Pushing your trough to 1500 and loading you up with AI's so you can stand it. My town Denver is full of those places. Those kinds of places need to be shutdown. They will cause congress to act and we all will suffer.

Formerly "Body Shapes Medical" - Good Lord...

 

[DragonBits]

How do we know if this ((( 25 Again ))) my god what a shitty name isn't one of those T farms that shoots you full of pellets as long as you got money. Pushing your trough to 1500 and loading you up with AI's so you can stand it. My town Denver is full of those places. Those kinds of places need to be shutdown. They will cause congress to act and we all will suffer.

You must be talking about a different country, congress might take "action" ??

 

[FeelingLost]

You must be talking about a different country, congress might take "action" ??

HaHa you are so right what was I thinking?

 

[Kirk001]

Good point, they hand out SSRIs like candy

 

[HarryCat]

How do we know if this ((( 25 Again ))) my god what a shitty name...

My thought exactly, talk about putting a target on your back.

 

[Esq]

By way of update, the KBML reached its decision last week and has indefinitely suspended Dr. Bates, the medical director, from practicing hormone medicine. She gets to keep her license and the clinic will remain open, but she can't practice there (or anything hormonal anywhere else). Her lawyer says they will appeal.
https://www.courier-journal.com/sto...ne-therapy-doctor-license-25-again/721086002/
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Several here have commented that the name of the clinic put a target on its back. Respectfully, and I'm a patient at one of them, but how is 25 Again/Body Shapes Medical so offensive while the names of two site sponsors, Prime Body and Defy Medical, are fine? All three names are meant to evoke a return to youthfulness, defying the aging process, being in one's prime, etc., and I don't see a problem with that.
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I have no knowledge of the clinic's practices or patient care, other than the fact that they charge a rather hefty annual membership fee, which always sets off red flags for me. The whole point of this, however, is that a licensed physician is in trouble for prescribing testosterone and thyroid to patients with "normal" lab values. That is the primary basis for the KBML proceedings - that she prescribed testosterone and thyroid to patients with natural levels that are considered clinically normal. As we all know, those lab values do not even remotely describe what is normal or desirable for most patients and, to me, these proceedings set a dangerous precedent that should have all of us who are being treated with natural lab values "in range" at least a little concerned, particularly when you have state officials comparing her prescribing practices for hormones to the opiod epidemic (which, by the way, has hit Kentucky as bad or worse as anywhere in the country).