Quack Quack

[Mango]

Pilot faked his way as a prestigious doctor for 20 years, duping AMA and receiving millions in medical grants

Learn more: Pilot faked his way as a prestigious doctor for 20 years, duping AMA and receiving millions in medical grants

(NaturalNews) Dr William Hamman is a prestigious cardiologist with high-ranking posts at universities and hospitals. He led teamwork training sessions at the American College of Cardiology and was recognized and supported by the American Medical Association. He received millions of dollars in medical grants and even trained other doctors by teaching Continuing Medical Education (CME) classes. He was also credited as the author of several articles in science journals.

There was only one problem with all this. Dr William Hamman wasn't a doctor at all. What the AMA, the hospitals and the CME system didn't realize for twenty years is that his credentials were faked.
How to quack like a doctor

For two decades, William Hamman had been conning his way into the medical system, and he fooled all the health authorities. Apparently, if you walk like a doctor and quack like a doctor, people don't ask very many questions.

But here's the really fascinating part of this story. The American Medical Association had scheduled a seminar featuring "Doctor" William Hamman as an instructor. When the AMA found out they had been duped, did they cancel the training? Nope. They simply altered the course materials, removing the word "Doctor" in front of his name and replacing it with the word "Captain!"

William Hamman is a pilot, you see, and the AMA apparently didn't care whether a doctor or a pilot was giving a medical seminar as long as they could slap some kind of authoritative-sounding word in front of his name. This should raise huge red flags about the credibility of the AMA itself.
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[Alicia Leonard]

Pilot faked his way as a prestigious doctor for 20 years, duping AMA and receiving millions in medical grants

Learn more: Pilot faked his way as a prestigious doctor for 20 years, duping AMA and receiving millions in medical grants

(NaturalNews) Dr William Hamman is a prestigious cardiologist with high-ranking posts at universities and hospitals. He led teamwork training sessions at the American College of Cardiology and was recognized and supported by the American Medical Association. He received millions of dollars in medical grants and even trained other doctors by teaching Continuing Medical Education (CME) classes. He was also credited as the author of several articles in science journals.

There was only one problem with all this. Dr William Hamman wasn't a doctor at all. What the AMA, the hospitals and the CME system didn't realize for twenty years is that his credentials were faked.
How to quack like a doctor

For two decades, William Hamman had been conning his way into the medical system, and he fooled all the health authorities. Apparently, if you walk like a doctor and quack like a doctor, people don't ask very many questions.

But here's the really fascinating part of this story. The American Medical Association had scheduled a seminar featuring "Doctor" William Hamman as an instructor. When the AMA found out they had been duped, did they cancel the training? Nope. They simply altered the course materials, removing the word "Doctor" in front of his name and replacing it with the word "Captain!"

William Hamman is a pilot, you see, and the AMA apparently didn't care whether a doctor or a pilot was giving a medical seminar as long as they could slap some kind of authoritative-sounding word in front of his name. This should raise huge red flags about the credibility of the AMA itself.
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I will admit, even as a nurse, I never thought I would have the level of frustration I have had with trying to get adequate care for my Hashi's and t4 conversion problems. I didn't want to become a patient advocate, but if I hadn't educated myself and sought out a specialist, I very well may have lost everything I've worked for because I didn't have the energy to sit up, much less go to work. I'm blessed that I work for people that worked with me until I could get better, and with a specialist that has the same conversion problems. I'm very disapointed that $300 worth of heavy duty meds, including some for pain, were pushed at me and all I needed was a $10 bottle of Armour natural thyroid.

 

[Matt J]

This smells like it's going to wind up on snopes.com.

The above article says they let him go on with the course, but this article:

Impostor doctor fools colleagues

doesn't even mention the course and says they removed him. It doesn't end there though, this article:

Pilot fools AMA with fake M.D. claim

says that while the plot to change everything so it would be "legit" was stopped by higher ups.

What do the articles have in common? They are all attributed to the same writer for the AP. Ironically she's only actually ever contributed to one article for the AP:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/extern...ol/Search?SITE=ILEDW&query=MARILYNN MARCHIONE

The AP receives articles first before they are sent out so it would seem to make sense that this article would at least be referenced on the AP's own website.

Sorry bogus.

 

[30A Skunkape]

This smells like it's going to wind up on snopes.com.

The above article says they let him go on with the course, but this article:

Impostor doctor fools colleagues

doesn't even mention the course and says they removed him. It doesn't end there though, this article:

Pilot fools AMA with fake M.D. claim

says that while the plot to change everything so it would be "legit" was stopped by higher ups.

What do the articles have in common? They are all attributed to the same writer for the AP. Ironically she's only actually ever contributed to one article for the AP:

The Edwardsville Intelligencer > (AP) Associated Press Headlines

The AP receives articles first before they are sent out so it would seem to make sense that this article would at least be referenced on the AP's own website.

Sorry bogus.

Thanks for doing the fact checking. I don't find it on snopes, but I guess it will land there soon enough. My bet is that the AP report was faked by an agent of 'big vitamin', probably a MLM hack, to instill some confidence in their shaky product. Ehh.:roll:

 

[Matt J]

Thanks for doing the fact checking. I don't find it on snopes, but I guess it will land there soon enough. My bet is that the AP report was faked by an agent of 'big vitamin', probably a MLM hack, to instill some confidence in their shaky product. Ehh.:roll:

It's all been released over the last few days. Snopes usually takes a week or more. Delve deeper and the various "photos" of Dr. Captain are all completely different stock photos of pilots.

 

[Matt J]

Mango I do want to apologize, I'm not trying to be mean, but once I read the part about the AMA just shrugging it's shoulders and saying yeah whatever I knew it was a hoax.

 

[30A Skunkape]

Mango I do want to apologize, I'm not trying to be mean, but once I read the part about the AMA just shrugging it's shoulders and saying yeah whatever I knew it was a hoax.

The funny thing is, most people think the AMA is like the AFL-CIO for doctors. In fact less than 30% of doctors belong to the AMA, and a good chunk of the membership is composed of residents (new graduates) who join at a deep discount in exchange for a T-shirt, coffee mug and a year of JAMA. I get crap from them almost weekly and send empty pre-paid envelopes back to them...I figure the post office appreciates it

 

[Mango]

This smells like it's going to wind up on snopes.com.

The above article says they let him go on with the course, but this article:

Impostor doctor fools colleagues

doesn't even mention the course and says they removed him. It doesn't end there though, this article:

Pilot fools AMA with fake M.D. claim

says that while the plot to change everything so it would be "legit" was stopped by higher ups.

What do the articles have in common? They are all attributed to the same writer for the AP. Ironically she's only actually ever contributed to one article for the AP:

The Edwardsville Intelligencer > (AP) Associated Press Headlines

The AP receives articles first before they are sent out so it would seem to make sense that this article would at least be referenced on the AP's own website.

Sorry bogus.

I just did a search on the AP's web site and came up with this:

and MSNBC, amongst many others are carrying the same story and crediting the AP.

But not only that, here is an article he wrote on Pubmed:
The complexity of team training: what we have learned from aviation and its applications to medicine.

I hope the part about the lecture is true, because then I have some hope that Medical Professionals, with the exception of Skunky, have a sense of humor.

None of the above media outlets have anything to do with the Natural Foods, vitamins, or Health Industry. I find it highly doubtful that someone's identity would be slandered and baseless accusations made just to tout the benefits of an apple a day.
If it quacks like a duck.........But, I didn't post the article to poo poo the medical industry, but since we are going there........

If someone really wanted to expose critical findings about Physicians, all they would have to do is present factual information such as this: From the New England Journal of Medicine
(a highly respected publication, read by Physicians)

AbstractBACKGROUND: Relationships between physicians and pharmaceutical, medical device, and other medically related industries have received considerable attention in recent years. We surveyed physicians to collect information about their financial associations with industry and the factors that predict those associations.


METHODS: We conducted a national survey of 3167 physicians in six specialties (anesthesiology, cardiology, family practice, general surgery, internal medicine, and pediatrics) in late 2003 and early 2004. The raw response rate for this probability sample was 52%, and the weighted response rate was 58%.


RESULTS: Most physicians (94%) reported some type of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, and most of these relationships involved receiving food in the workplace (83%) or receiving drug samples (78%). More than one third of the respondents (35%) received reimbursement for costs associated with professional meetings or continuing medical education, and more than one quarter (28%) received payments for consulting, giving lectures, or enrolling patients in trials. Cardiologists were more than twice as likely as family practitioners to receive payments. Family practitioners met more frequently with industry representatives than did physicians in other specialties, and physicians in solo, two-person, or group practices met more frequently with industry representatives than did physicians practicing in hospitals and clinics.


CONCLUSIONS: The results of this national survey indicate that relationships between physicians and industry are common and underscore the variation among such relationships according to specialty, practice type, and professional activities.

 

[Matt J]

Sorry to continuing popping bubbles.

The article you reference as the AP is actually posted on The Scranton Times Tribune, bottom of the page credits them (Copyright ?2010 The Scranton Times Tribune). The article has a video link as well to here interestingly enough the movie has been removed.

Western Michigan University doesn't list him as a professor.
Faculty G to L - Western Michigan University - acalog ACMS?

It just keeps getting better. A site that allows anyone to post to it references the article the same day and quotes an article from a gentleman who did work for Western Michigan University with that name who worked in the College of Aviation's Simulation Research division. That author goes on to claim that a medical term "Hamman's Crunch" is attributed to this guy and even references Wikipedia. Oddly when one goes to Wikipedia it's learned that the term is actually credited to a physician named Louis Hamman who died in 1946.

The more this unravels the more it's clearly a hoax and an attempt to discredit the AMA by people shilling vitamins and cure-all "natural" remedies.

 

[Mango]

POP Goes the Weasel!

AP Article/ AP logo, AP, UP, WEALLPEE....

I'll be waiting for you to stay up all night and figure this one out.....

and that Wikilink doesn't say any such thing. That guy didn't even work in Michigan and he was a psychiatrist. and I wonder how a dead man changed his name from Louis to William and managed to publish an article on Pubmed in 2004. You need sleep, dude.

Here's the correct link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hamman



and, he WAS affiliated with WMU- ARTICLE
WMU grabs more than $800,000 in grants

June 5, 2009
KALAMAZOO--Externally funded grants to Western Michigan University climbed to more than $800,000 in April, WMU trustees learned at their June 4 meeting. The one-month tally brings the University's year-to-date grant total to nearly $26.4 million.
Research grants raked in the lion's share--$606,215 in all--and were led by a new grant of $150,000 from the American College of Cardiology Foundation. That grant, to Dr. William Hamman, co-director of the WMU College of Aviation's Center of Excellence for Simulation Research, and Beth Beaudin-Seller, College of Aviation research associate, will use simulation strategies developed to train commercial flight crews and apply them to the health care arena to improve training for medical personnel.

I think we can put this blaming the vitamin/supplement industry to bed now.