|
Is it any wonder why doctors, medical facilities, health insurers and drug makers are loosing the trust and respect of the public when you hear of cases of fraud and under-the-table payments? Just this past week alone: Eli Lilly embarked on a calculated plan to push their drug Zyprexa to doctors to prescribe the drug to their patients with dimentia to help them sleep. Lilly's "salespeople told care providers that 5 milligrams of Zyprexa at 5 p.m. - '5 at 5' - would help dimentia patients sleep. The problem is that the drup Zyprexa has never been approved by regulators for the for the treatment of dimentia. This was reported Bloomberg News and the Legal Intelligencer. UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest U.S. health insurer, will pay $400 million to settle allegations it has manipulated payments to doctors and patients over the last 15 years.The suit was brought against UnitedHealth by the American Medical Association and their president Nancy Nielsen used terms like "rampant cheating" and "rigged database" to describe the acts that UnitedHealth engaged in. The New York Times also ran the story. Aetna Inc., the third largest U.S. health insurer is going to pay $20 million to settle reimbursement rates paid to out-of-network physicians. This investigation was handled by the New York Attorney General. Perhaps one of the most egregious acts was the discovery that Medtronic paid a prominent University of Wisconsin spine surgeon and researcher $19 million over five years. Medtronic happens to be one of the country's largest makers of spinal devices according to Senator Grassley who is investigating conflict of interest allegations. In some lawsuits, Medtronic has been accused by former employees and the government of inducing surgeons to use its spine products with payments for sham consulting agreements and lavish travel. In 2006, Medtronic agreed to pay $40 million to the government to settle civil allegations that it paid kickbacks to doctors, including sham consulting and sham royalty agreements as well as lavish trips. Those allegations were initially made in two lawsuits brought by former Medtronic employees, including a former legal counsel. As part of the settlement, the employee lawsuits were dismissed. While agreeing to the settlement, Medtronic denied any wrongdoing.
What is going on? I'll tell you what is going on - greed! Even when a corporation like Medtronics has to pay millions in settlements they persist in the same practice - why - because the risk and cost of discovery is probably miniscule to the profits they reap as a result of the persistent practices they engage in.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed