Comments on: Foreign intrigue: when drug companies bribe doctors

By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 03:17:15 +0000

Bev, I can’t answer your ‘is corporate morality dead?’ question (but some more cynical than I am might respond by pointing out that inherent oxymoron!) But the good news here just might be that the “Mommies and Daddies” safeguarding the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are now paying attention to those Big Pharma children out playing with matches overseas.

PS. You set your house on fire?! Wow.

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By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 03:11:10 +0000

Two brilliant words to consider today, Cave – baksheesh and hubris! Thank you!

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By: Bev

Bev — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:48:29 +0000

Well, they’re not stupid! Of course they did their bribing in foreign countries! I know that isn’t the question, really, but I just want to explain it. You see, when I was little, if I was going to be naughty, I hid somewhere I thought for sure my mom wouldn’t see me. I was 5 when two little friends and I took to playing with the matches I got out of my parents cigarette drawer that was next to the silverware drawer. Like the drug companies, I wasn’t stupid enough to play with matches in the house with Mommy there. I went out in the field on the empty lot beside our house and played in the tall dry grass, instead. The distance from my house and hiding down in that grass was very reassuring. I felt safe and actually,(amazingly), never did get caught out there. It was only when I abandoned my hiding and accidentally started the house on fire that I got in big trouble.

I hope these companies, unlike me, are stopped before they catch our houses on fire.

But hey – at least people in those other countries are the ones getting hurt by those manufacturing problems and not us! (I’m being sarcastic.)

Carolyn, is corporate morality dead in America? Is corporate morality dead all over the world? And what about personal morals? Does the value of money outweigh the value of doing the right thing?

I agree your questions here are good ones, but could you stop asking them so I can put my head back in the sand? I was much more comfortable there!

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By: cave76

cave76 — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:43:12 +0000

Carolyn—–
****What galls me is not so much the bribery itself, but the fact that they clearly believe they can get away with it ‘over there’.***

Exactly! Either they’re slow learners (don’t think so) and are following the lead of times past when baksheesh was a way of life in some countries
Or — H-U-B-R-I-S. I lean towards the last reason.

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By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:30:44 +0000

Hello Cave – in answer to your query “Do the drug manufacturers actually think that anything done ‘over there’ isn’t immediately noticed ‘here’?”: Apparently so! What galls me is not so much the bribery itself, but the fact that they clearly believe they can get away with it ‘over there’.

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By: cave76

cave76 — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:10:45 +0000

Do the drug manufacturers actually think that anything done ‘over there’ isn’t immediately noticed ‘here’? (grin)

What is being done about it may vary from country to country— but at least it’s noticed.
Thanks for this article.

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By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:02:27 +0000

Thanks Dr. Joe and a very Merry Christmas to you, too!

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By: Dr Joe Kosterich

Dr Joe Kosterich — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 09:29:28 +0000

At least this stuff is now coming out. Reminds me of the movie The Fugitive. Over the next decade big pharma will have to start behaving – it won’t have a choice as it has had thus far.

Keep up the great work Carolyn and have a Merry Christmas 🙂

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By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:41:18 +0000

Thanks so much for your comment, Carole!

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By: Carole Schroeder

Carole Schroeder — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:37:53 +0000

Thank you Carolyn for the “blahblahblahblahblah” and this post – we all needed this.

Many health professionals avoid any drug newer than 7 years, because by then we know about deaths etc in real time (not research governed by industry consultants). I hope your readers have seen Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell Esselstyn, cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic. Women in particular may be amenable to his approach, rather than dangerous drugs that control symptoms but not causes.

You are doing us a great service, keep it up.
Carole

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