I got this from an article about Rudy Guiliani’s clients one of whom was the manufacturer of the now infamous drug Oxycontin:
To drive OxyContin’s sales, Purdue, beginning in 1996, set in motion what D.E.A. officials described as perhaps the most aggressive promotional campaign for a high-powered narcotic ever undertaken. It promoted the drug not only to pain specialists, but to family doctors with little experience in treating serious pain or recognizing drug abuse.
I don’t think it is news that Rudy is a dirt bag who would work for anyone willing to pay his fees. I think it is more interesting how irresponsible the company was to market a highly addictive drug to almost anyone, while at the same time it is mind boggling how a doctor would prescribe a drug like this when he or she did not understand the side effects.
I keep trying to make the ame point about health care that the entire system is messed up and needs an overhaul from top to bottom. The industry is not going to police itself, and the market seems to reward the worst behavior. Hopefully someone will decide that the health and safety of the American population is worth more than a few dollars that they can make selling bad drugs or performing needless procedures and start looking out for their patients. Are their any doctors out there listening? You guys are the one who took the oath to do no harm, maybe you should start living up to it.
The entire article can be found here
Locking up doctors for treating patients (which is what the Ashcroft/Gonzo Justice Department has been devoting resources for) is crazy. It’s the type of thing that happens in a police state (ahem!). They’ve busted doctors for actual criminal acts, like one from Cape Cod who was using them and selling them outside of work. A lot of them though, had just been treating people who abused them, with an FDA approved drug that happened to be an opioid…meaning that the tolerance level for people who do take it every day gets as high as what would be a lethal dose for anyone else.
Doctors who have treated patients 100% according to the book, have been locked up because of this drug. For supposedly failing to inspect their patients’ activities outside the office effectively enough…I guess it is now a doctor’s job to ensure they retain a couple private investigators to snoop around the lives of patients…
The company either greased the right palms or lucked out with the matador treatment from the FDA.
It is difficult to make one group the villain in health care. it seems like a perfect convergence of greed and incompetence.
I do think that doctors need to held to a higher standard as they are supposed to be the proffessional who looks out for thier patients best interest and in many cases they do not.
This is why the competition of free markets is the best balance against greed.
Just like Reg FD in publicly traded companies, patients should be able to look up how many procedures a doctor has performed, and how has the health of his patients turned out relative to other doctors.
Same thing with insurance companies (e.g. claims statistics) and drug companies.
caveat, there was no regulation to speak of here. Ten years ago there was a dope fiend who had a runny nose and a dream. Thousands just like him were clever enough to solve the mystery of how to get lots of pills without having to pay. But the lesson turned out to be something like, ‘if you keep bringing your gun with you to the drug store, they won’t sell it anymore.’
Of course, a prompt half decade later, our government managed to spare enough people to look into what was going on.
I’m not on board at all with the idea that a significant percentage of doctors are running a scam when they prescribe medication. The medical profession and the FDA vouch for a drug, with obvious bribes in forms ranging from ski trips in Vail courtesy of Pfizer to campaign contributions, nice lobbying gigs for loyal staffers…
We’ve got millions of doctors, and for the most part they’re in the same boat as we are. The establishment tells us to take the ‘moderately priced’ pill, and the medical journals tell doctors about how the pill does what it does.
The game is rigged. Oxycontin…apparently the drug is very addictive.
I think that where some of you want to go means rationed (i.e. inferior) care to what we have today, as imperfect as it might be. Here’s more of the realities of the British system:
Despite the NHS commitment to provide free universal care, it is already common for doctors to set conditions on patients seeking treatment.
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The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence already considers so-called self-induced illnesses in setting the criteria that determine which patients should qualify for new or expensive health treatments.
And this year Leicester City Primary Care Trust was given Government approval to ask smokers to quit before they are given places on waiting lists for operations such as hip replacements and heart surgery.
Obese people also face more conditions from doctors who say being very overweight unnecessarily complicates many procedures.
For example, fertility doctors have argued that very obese women should be denied access to IVF treatment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=EL3VVI3Y3LYOFQFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2008/01/01/nhealth201.xml
caveat, aren’t we talking about the drug approval process?
Sorry, Al, I’ve colored outside the lines, and was talking about healthcare, and market- vs. regulatory-driven solutions.
Any thing from you guys on the scene:
Affordable healthcare banned in Boston by Mayor Menino
reports Stephen Smith (via Glenn Reynolds):
Menino blasted state regulators for paving the way Wednesday for the in-store clinics, which are designed to provide treatment for sore throats, poison ivy, and other minor illnesses.
The decision by the state Public Health Council, “jeopardizes patient safety,” Menino said in a written statement. “Limited service medical clinics run by merchants in for-profit corporations will seriously compromise quality of care and hygiene. Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong.”
Yes, so the politician’s answer boils down to: let’s not let people decide how to spend their money by taking away their ability to choose between different service providers. And then I get the special interest donations while I’m campaigning, and a cushy job after I’m voted out
http://caveatbettor.blogspot.com/2008/01/affordable-healthcare-banned-in-boston.html
Hey CB:
That was an interesting article it does seem like someone is trying to protect special interests mostly doctors I think. If I get a chance I might try to do a post on that article with maybe a few other sources.