Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Braithwaite tackles crime in the medical industry


http://shsucj.blogspot.com/2011/04/dr-john-braithwaite.html

7 comments:

  1. After reading Braithwaite’s article on, “Crime in the Medical Industry,” I am fearful of becoming sick. I had no idea that the pharmaceutical industry was so tainted. The pharmaceutical industry, according to Braithwaite, is named in numerous lawsuits because of their illegal actions. Braithwaite quoted in the article that, "We do so much to address homicides on the street and so little to address homicides in the suites….Criminal conduct is not getting better, but worse. The pharmaceutical industry is associated with more deaths from drugs than those murdered by guns." This is a very alarming acknowledgement to me. As mentioned in class, white collar crimes are not as recognizable or publicized as often as operational crimes. Perhaps more attention should be made towards the practices of the pharmaceutical industry in all aspects of their practices

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  2. how can these companies be getting away with this. there has to be a better way to combat this type of criminality. I believe that some government officials have complete knowledge of the dirty dealings of pharmaceutical companies. They very well should be getting paid under the table, because this mess is really becoming rampant. In my honest opinion, there are gov't officials getting kickbacks from these companies to allow this kind of dishonesty to continue. I hope and pray my life doesn't end up in the hands of the pharmaceutical companies.

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  3. I think it's so wrong that these companies are even taking bribes, as if they need that much more money. There are so many people that are not wealthy and it hurts them to have to pay for their medications, and the people supplying them are taking in even more money than they already get. Medication is not cheap, especially without insurance and it they shouldn't be able to get away with these practices. I would agree that the government definitely needs to bring more attention to these practices and do more to regulate the pharmaceutical company. These people are supposed to be helping and making the world better, and they are harming so many innocent lives. It's definitely not fair that these businesses get to live above the law and cause so much damage due to their selfishness or laziness.

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  4. This article is not only repulsive, but it makes me pretty sad and disappointed in our medical system. The saddest part of this whole article is the fact that some companies have fraudulently replaced dead or sick test animals with live, healthy animals in order to pass federal regulations. Citizens should be able to trust the drug companies to produce safe drugs and not have to worry about whether or not a pill we take will harm us. I believe that Braithwait made an excellent point that we do so much to address homicides on the street but do virtually almost nothing to address homicides in the suites. I agree with Elizabeth that if we were to address more white collar crimes, as discussed in class, and held more corporations liable for the damages they cause we will see a dramatic change in the way the public views corporations.

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  5. Criminal Justice and Criminology fields should be our number one priority career choice for Americans. Having the equal amount of specialists working on both sides, conventional and white collar crime would make a dent in fixing our national debt. Money would be saved with those to defraud us caught and behind bars. But, that’s not the case these days. Instead, we revert to restorative justice. Which in some cases it may be the best, but not all. The way I see it if one company commits an act of moral indecency, it should be severed and no longer allowed to pursue business. There are companies out there that are still functional today, but have knowingly (or neglectfully) lost lives and/or dollars in their pursuit of profit. Lives and dollars – the two most valuable things in the industry of business; greed gets in the way of morals, so one of those two outweighs the other. I’ll let you figure out which one is more important to a company.

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  6. It's sad to see all the people that go into the pharmaceutical industry not to better people's lives but for the money. With all the deaths that have been reported, more deaths are due to drugs that have been prescribed to the patient rather than a random drive by shooting. Guns, knives, and bats are no longer the main weapon that is killing everyone but it is the "medicine" that you're "suppose" to take to be healthier that's killing people. Too much of the focus is on street violence since it kills someone so quickly when some of that attention needs to be focused on the medical field that has been killing different people slowly without their knowledge.

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  7. I agree with Wallace’s question, “How can these companies be getting away with this?” I mean seriously people, what is going on here? How is it that we are so concerned with less important entertainment stories, such as “Jersey Shore,” etc. and we are not even aware of this rising crime in the drug industry. Crimes in the drug industry affect our health—I would think that as a society crimes such as these would cause immediate worry and action. Especially if we consider Dr. John Braithwaite’s quotes, “The loss of life from illegal conduct in the pharmaceutical industry is greater than criminal conduct in the streets,” and, “often drug companies will test new products in countries with the fewest regulations. Both of these statements make me both worry and feel some fear for our drug industry in the future. I am beginning to believe that most people in business care about nothing more than making a buck. Too bad, if they kill all of us with their irresponsible and greedy business ventures then there will be none of us left, and hence their easily made bucks are gone. ☹ So, I would suggest they start putting customer’s first; be honest, follow regulations, and stop being greedy. ☺

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