US Drug Companies as corrupt as Wall Street?

[Michael]

This is a link to a NYT Book Review article - on three books - written by a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, that addresses the corruption in US medical sector involving the Pharmaceutical industry.

Source (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22237)

Apparently, the Pharmaceutical industry considers fines for false advertising or fraud to be merely a small cost of business that is dwarfed by the profits that may accrue to such fraudulent efforts.

Most importantly, the article discusses how the Pharmaceutical companies are not really the primary culprits here - that it is medical professionals that are the most comprimised and most corrupted.

(I have this posted in the politics section because this issue is entirely controled by US politics. It is US politics that set up the FDA and it is US politics that creates the rules that makes the US medical sector the way it is - the Pharmaceutical industry is also traditionally one of the most generous donors to major political players)

[The Drunk Guy]

I work in the medical field (as an untrained minion) and I can see what this fellow is saying.

To me, it seems that everyone is becoming hypochondriacs due to the large amounts of medical knowledge floating around. Why let some fuck-up doctor put you through test after test when you can look it up on WebMD? The doctors I work around have no problem letting patients diagnose themselves.

Hell, I remember doing that myself. I even told them what prescription I needed. That's why we're forced to sit through fucking Cialis and Advair commercials; the patient gets to tell the doc what they want. They're like glorified drug dealers.

And it's widespread. I would say that, given all primary care doctors, 80% just don't give a shit. The other 20% care, but they still give in to hard-headed patients that keep affirming their imaginary illness. Specialists don't let patients run them over with bullshit ONLY because they don't deal with diagnoses, but they will prescribe every fucking pill under the sun for a common problem. So that pretty much leaves surgeons.

I will go into detail at a later juncture, but I have to go carry out doctors' orders now.

[Americano]

I go to the emergency ward for all my checkups. Far less expensive, faster than being routed by a GP to labs and specialists and it provides instant results. EKG, blood work and pulmonary in under three hours. Anyway, I was chatting with one of the ER nurses about hypochondria and she said it's not uncommon for people in their 30s through 60s to bring a shoebox full of prescription/over-the-counter meds when they come in for ER treatment because they know they're going to be asked what they're taking.

Let's not forget Rummy, a foe of any government regulation that didn't favor stifling competition, was a big wheel in the pharmaceutical industry.

[partofme]

This is a link to a NYT Book Review article - on three books - written by a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, that addresses the corruption in US medical sector involving the Pharmaceutical industry.

Source (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22237)

Apparently, the Pharmaceutical industry considers fines for false advertising or fraud to be merely a small cost of business that is dwarfed by the profits that may accrue to such fraudulent efforts.

Most importantly, the article discusses how the Pharmaceutical companies are not really the primary culprits here - that it is medical professionals that are the most comprimised and most corrupted.

(I have this posted in the politics section because this issue is entirely controled by US politics. It is US politics that set up the FDA and it is US politics that creates the rules that makes the US medical sector the way it is - the Pharmaceutical industry is also traditionally one of the most generous donors to major political players)

Sounds like the fines need to be raised significantly.

[The Drunk Guy]

Sounds like the fines need to be raised significantly.
That will only raise the cost of meds even more.

[Americano]

That will only raise the cost of meds even more.

Agreed, big pharma views fines as just another cost of doing business.

[Michael]

Agreed, big pharma views fines as just another cost of doing business.
This was the one flaw in the court-cases against Microsoft's illegal market-monopoly games against Netscape.

A $100 million fine is peanuts to a company that profited billions from the act of violation. Indeed, in the case of Microsoft and Netscape, (or Big Pharma companies) is that this method of business is highly profitable - even after factoring in the legal costs and potential fines.