Bernie Madoff and Menopause

Madoff built one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history. Madoff defrauded investors of more than $50 billion. Madoff has been arrested and can't defraud any longer.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has built one of the largest misinformation schemes in history. The NIH did, and continues to, defraud millions of women of control of their health, well-being and livelihood. The NIH shows no signs that it will stop. With every sunrise women all over the world are denied another day of possibilities.

Madoff didn't do it alone. He relied on the trust people had in him. When Bernie Madoff asked people to invest their money with him they did.

The NIH isn't doing it alone either. It relies on the trust people have in the NIH. When the NIH says profound hypogonadism in women is untreatable people believe it.

For almost a decade Harry Markopolos tried to tell the SEC that Madoff couldn't be running his business based on sound economic principles. He could not get them to see what Madoff was doing. He tried to tell the press and was also ignored.

Harry Markopolos said the following:

"I gift-wrapped and delivered the largest Ponzi scheme in history to them and somehow they couldn't be bothered to conduct a thorough and proper investigation because they were too busy on matters of higher priority. If a $50 billion Ponzi scheme doesn't make the SEC's priority list, then I want to know who sets their priorities."

I have done the same thing. I have shown with hard data how the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) was designed to not succeed and the only comment I received was that the analysis should be left to the experts. I contacted two of the experts for the WHI and was told that the WHI had no hormonal tests to verify replacement because Wyeth, the manufacturer of Premarin, wouldn't allow it. I was also told that although classic HRT was not used it was necessary to call it that for recruitment purposes.

I followed up with senators, numerous NIH officials and agencies, and newspaper outlets. The answer remains the same. I, too, am ignored.

Harry Markopolos tried for almost a decade to get the SEC to listen. I've been trying for 5 years to get the NIH to listen.

Like Madoff, the NIH is flaunting their fraud.

Madoff didn't give his clients online access to their accounts. His clients had no independent, verifiable, source of information and had to receive account information by mail. Without access to their accounts online, or the verification of the stock trades, the clients had to go on Madoff's word.

The NIH won't give the public access to long term drug studies on Premarin and Provera, the drugs used in the WHI. Without access to the data that describes the effect of these drugs the public has to go on the word of the NIH.

Trust is how small schemes become big ones. As the trust grows so can fraud and when the fraud is exposed people lose.

Bernie Madoff relied on his reputation to build an enormous house of cards that cost many people their life savings.

The NIH relies on its reputation to build an enormous house of cards that has, and continues to, cost millions of women their health, their livelihood, their marriage, and their family.

Bernie Madoff can't defraud any more people. In the end it was the public's demand for their money that exposed the scheme.

The NIH continues to defraud the public. The public can end the fraud that the NIH is not willing to admit.

Women can stop being defrauded by the NIH by calling peri-menopause and menopause by their real names, hypogonadism and profound hypogonadism. The NIH can't deny the enormous success of replacement regimens when done correctly (ie diabetes, hypothyroidism, hypogonadism, etc.). Women can then get the treatment they need and have far better health and overall well-being and maintain their competitiveness in the job market.

In December, 2008, The SEC called Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme a "stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions."

We don't have to wait for the NIH to acknowledge the WHI as a "stunning fraud of epic proportions."

We can move forward and get women the treatment they deserve while we wait for the NIH to catch up to us.

Harry Markopolos didn't stop doing the right thing and neither will I.