Monday, October 14, 2013

What do we as consumers do when the terms Fraud and Pharmaceuticals become synonymous

And does it make a difference to you?  That's the big question though  isn't it?  Should we as cognizant American consumers be concerned as to exactly HOW big pharmaceutical companies make their billions and billions of dollars in profits?  And just exactly how does the recent ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals  for Manhattan affect how drugs will be marketed to doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and ultimately us as consumers?  And what about the billions of dollars in fines that drug companies have had to pay for their practices of paying kickbacks and outright bribery in order to market new drugs?  And what about when a major drug manufacturer prints up "FAKE" medical journals that contain a few real articles and a whole bunch of "PEER REVIEWED" articles about their newest drugs and then distributes them to doctors all over the country?  And what happens when manufacturers making generic medications are found guilty of fabricating documents showing that the drugs met all the requirements for each specific generic drug?  Or when the Attorney General of the United States takes a drug company to court for hiding negative results of testing and received approval for a new drug based solely on data that was, well, a complete lie?

What would you do if one of your friends lied to you, told your other friends lies about you, stole from you, cheated you out of your personal possessions and at every stage smiled at you and told you they were your best most loyal friend?  Yeah, I know, that does sound like my ex-wife, but it also is exactly what big pharma companies do.  Would you keep as a friend someone that does things like that?

Second Circuit Court Ruling from New York Times (NYT) In a decision that is just WRONG on every level, the court stated that drug company reps can tell doctors that the weird side effects of a specific drug can be prescribed to treat diseases the drug is NOT approved for.  The defense cited that the drug reps were exercising their right to free speech when trying to influence sales of their drugs.  If this appeal stands up in the Supreme Court, it could jeopardize over 30 BILLION dollars in fines against big pharma for doing this thing everyday, when they have been told over and over again not to.

Another Kickback Scheme from the New York Times (NYT Kickback)  Big pharma once again charged with breaking laws that they have broken over and over again

Peer Reviewed Medical Journal is a Fake from the New York Times (NYT Fake) Big pharma believes that doctors read medical journals for info on the best treatments for diseases, so they print their own and make them really fancy looking.  And pack them with articles pronouncing their new drugs are miracles.  They even put the names of prominent docs in specific fields as contributors and editors, and all without their permission.

Generic Drug Makers Guilty of Fraud from the New York Times (NYT Fraud)  One of the largest manufacturers of generic drugs pleaded guilty of falsifying testing of the drugs they made. 

Hiding Data from the New York Times  (NYT Hidden)  It isn't a secret anymore, drug companies use the positive data to apply for approval of new drugs.  Oops, they do seem to leave out the negative stuff.  Maybe that's why there are so many deaths and disabilities from those new drugs giving lawyers a guaranteed source of income and filling the TV airwaves with ads for services to sue the makers of drugs that kill and maim. 

I put in all these sources just to placate one specific person that believes I am a quack and not exactly seeing things as they really are.  Just to assure this person that I am not a quack, I give the references from their favorite purveyor of unadulterated news, the New York Times. 

Anyway, what would you do if someone did this stuff to you?  Me, I divorced the wicked witch of the west and my life got a whole lot better.  I also am trying to do the same with the drug companies.  I have had four incidences of pulmonary embolisms.  The standard treatment for people like me that haven't died (and it is a miracle that I have survived four) is to take blood thinners.  And of course the sad part is that the blood clots were caused by an entirely different medication and at that time we had no idea it was a nasty side effect.  But, blood thinners kill people.  And when I found that an aspirin a day was ALMOST as effective as every single one of the poisons the drug companies are pushing on us, I stopped taking any of their expensive poisons and now take aspirin.  When the medical profession infected me with MRSA it nearly destroyed my life.  All of the treatments have been horribly invasive and devastating to my bones, my lungs, my sinuses, and well, my life.  I stopped eating meat, sugar, processed foods, GMO's and anything that might possibly be harmful to my system.  It has helped, they haven't cut my legs off as my doctor prophesied that they would have to do by now, but I'm a long way from a picture of health.  But I don't want to have anything to do with big pharma unless it is absolutely necessary.  When a person, or a big company, willingly and knowingly fucks me over and laughs about it, I don't want them as a friend, nor do I want to give the business any money.  When I get sick, I try natural remedies first.  Then if there is no success, I go to the doctor with my phone in hand and when they tell me they will prescribe a drug, I look it up on the internet.  If the side effects seem to be more devastating than the problem, then I ask for something else.  This may seem odd, but once you do it, your doctor will look at you differently, not as a sheep being led to slaughter, but as a person that cares about their treatment.  It improves your doctor patient relationship.  Believe it or not, doctors practice the AMA method of medicine, give out drugs to treat any symptoms rather than look for the root cause of the problem, then deal with problems from the drugs as they arise.  There are always more drugs to treat side effects.  If you make your doctor think outside the box, it NORMALLY is a challenge and helps them out of the drudgery of the same old same old rut that modern medicine puts them into with their tired old AMA guidelines and drug backed requirements for practice are rooted in.  Remember that the AMA guidelines are that chronic problems can only be treated with medications, and although a doctor might stray and ask you to lose weight or stop smoking or drinking, those recommendations are at the doctor's discretion only, not part of the AMA guideline of medicating to treat symptoms, not problems.

Who are your friends?  Who are your enemies?  Who do your trust? 

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