Bribery and Corruption: hiding in plain Sight, yet few seem to care!
If you are a fan of old movies from the 30s and 40s, you’ve probably watched a scene such as this one…
The heavy-set, jolly-looking policeman is making his rounds on foot through the neighborhood where he grew up. He walks past the fruit stand of an Italian-American vendor (whom we will call Luigi):
“Top of the mornin’ to you, Luigi! How are things goin’ today?”
“Good, good, Officer O’Malley!” Luigi responds with a big smile. “Oh… I just got these apples in yesterday. They’re sweet, and taste really good. Here − have one!”
“Why, thank you, Luigi”, O’Malley says as he nonchalantly picks out the best apple from the pile and takes a bite.
“Oh, take another one for your wife,” Luigi generously offers him a second one.
“Thanks again, Luigi,” the cop responds, accepting the gift. “You have a nice day now, you hear?”
“You too, Officer. See you later!” Luigi calls as the policeman continues on down the street…
Of course, these days, such a scene would be scandalous: police officers are not allowed to take any gift whatsoever, no matter how seemingly insignificant. Why? Because society is afraid that if they do, they might favor some citizens over others. In our fictitious scenario, suppose Officer O’Malley, having the benefit of getting free fruit every day, gives Luigi’s establishment more vigilance and protection than he provides for the shops of others? This would be corruption; thus, we prohibit police officers from accepting any such “bribes” from citizens.
If only our standards of propriety extended to another area of life, one which is every bit as crucial to our safety as is the vigilance of the law!
In case you haven’t guessed it already, I am referring to the blatant large-scale bribery and corruption that has completely permeated the medical community: namely, pharmaceutical companies giving huge “incentives” – i.e., bribes − to doctors in order to “motivate” them to prescribe more and more of the drugs those companies manufacture.
The following article shows how lawmakers are becoming increasingly aware of the extent of the corruption: “The Fight against Bribery in Pharma”.
In the realm of cancer treatment: Were you aware that oncologists actually earn money not only for their role in chemotherapy, but also earn a profit on the chemo drugs themselves? This has led to many oncologists making sure they use the most expensive chemo drugs, so that they can rake in a maximum of profit. In addition, the price of cancer drugs is rising with stunning speed. In this article, you can read about how the price of one such drug rose by a factor of 15 in only four years (from $50 to $768). In that same article, we find that drugs used for other illnesses are also rising obscenely. I quote:
“NextSource is just the latest drug company to be accused of excessively inflating prices. In 2015, Martin Shkreli, chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, sparked an uproar after increasing the cost of anti-Aids drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 per cent, from $13.50 to $750 a pill.”
How many times have you seen those commercials produced by the Pharmaceutical Industry that are designed to convince you that they truly care about you and your health? You know, the commercials that feature two senior citizens who look like the ideal grandparents; background music carefully crafted to set the mood, and thus make you more receptive to their sales pitch; a narrator with a warm, friendly voice who sounds like he really is compassionate…
Yet when you consider drug prices, and the rates at which they are increasing, it should be obvious to anyone but the greatest of fools: the Medical-Pharmaceutical Industry is concerned first and foremost not with your health, but with their profits.
Unfortunately, due to the omnipresence of government aid programs and health insurance, many people don’t seem to care too much about those prices. “Don’t worry!” the oncologist said to my brother and me when trying to convince us to talk our mother into accepting chemotherapy, “I saw your mom has full insurance coverage, so she won’t have to pay anything!”
But let’s face it: someone is paying all the billions that the Industry takes in every year: taxpayers whose money goes to Medicare, Medicaid, and “Obamacare”; the people, or their employers, who pay extremely high health insurance premiums; and those without insurance, who have to empty their bank accounts to pay for excessively costly medical treatment.
Why do you think health insurance is so expensive, despite the competition between insurance companies? (Competition, as everyone knows, always tends to lower the prices for consumers.) Those insurance policies are expensive because of the exorbitant prices forced upon everyone by the health-care industry. And even worse… It is precisely because there are government programs, and insurance coverage, that that industry can raise their prices so quickly.
It’s the same phenomenon we see with college tuition prices: if the colleges and universities know that students can get government loans to pay tuition, then they can easily raise their prices, knowing that they will not lose any paying students – all those students have to do is run up higher debts!
That “big money” is at the heart of something as essential as the maintenance of our physical and mental health is a truly sad state of affairs. And as if that weren’t bad enough: the fact that some of the drugs that medical professionals regularly use on patients are no doubt doing more harm than good is a fact that should not only concern us, but that justifies any thinking person’s righteous anger.
Allow me to give you an appropriate example, one that does not have to do with cancer (at least not directly). Back in the 90s, my mother was diagnosed with high cholesterol. For that reason, the doctor put her on medication. Statins are commonly used to lower cholesterol. Unfortunately, not only can they have undesirable side effects (such as muscle pain, diabetes, liver damage, etc.); they are also expensive. You – or your insurance company – will probably have to pay a few hundred dollars monthly for these drugs.
About twelve years ago, my sister was also diagnosed with high cholesterol. Not wishing to simply “follow the doctor’s orders” and begin taking statins, she did a bit of research on the Internet, and read that there were people who lowered their “bad” cholesterol by taking a couple of Omega 3 (fish oil) capsules daily. These were much less expensive than statins, and, having no health insurance at the time, she decided she’d try that first. A mere three months later, she got another blood test, and her LDL (“bad”) cholesterol level had dropped to well within the normal range!
Her story interested me greatly when I, too, was diagnosed with high cholesterol (according to my doctor, it is probably a genetic predisposition, since my diet is not especially high in anything that would cause high cholesterol).
Remembering my sister’s story, I tried Omega 3 capsules, two per day, as she had taken. Three months later, I got a blood test – but alas! My cholesterol level was still high. However, I then thought about body size: I am 6ft 2in tall; my sister only 5ft 3in. Could it be that in my case, I should take a bit more? I started taking three capsules per day instead of two, and after three months, got another blood test: now, my cholesterol was well within the normal range. That was over six years ago, and since then, I have always been in that normal range – no doubt because I never fail to take my three Omega 3 capsules, spaced out over the course of the day.
Though it worked for my sister, and for me as well, I am not saying you will get the same results. Nevertheless, I do say that it is well worth a try. Why would you want to buy an expensive drug, one that has potential terrible side effects, when you could achieve the same results much cheaper using Omega 3? If Omega 3 does not work for you, you can always get on statins (though do read on).
Of course, if you have insurance, you might figure it’s better to take the statins.
After all, since they are “official” drugs, your insurance will probably pay for them (they will not pay for Omega 3). Personally, I would rather shell out a little money, and avoid harmful side effects. (Do note, though: if you are allergic to fish, Omega 3 is definitely not for you.)
I tell you this story merely to point out one area where a natural remedy can get you exactly the same results as expensive pharmaceuticals, without burdening you with any serious side effects.
No doubt you will find articles on the Internet claiming that Omega 3 does not lower “bad” cholesterol; that there are studies showing this, and others that are inconclusive. All I can say is, it worked for me and for my sister, and thus, it could quite possibly work for you as well.
The problem is, since so many health professionals are profiting immensely from the sale of drugs, how can we be sure that they really have our best interests in mind, and are not merely trying to get us on as many medications as possible, in order to enrich themselves even more?
How many of the drugs that people take are really necessary? At this site (healthline.com) we read:
“The link between saturated fat and heart disease has been studied intensely for decades, but the biggest and best studies show that there is no statistically significant association.”
And on the same topic, Doctor Ken Berry, in his excellent, informative book: “Lies my Doctor told me – Medical Myths that can harm your Health”, goes so far as to say:
“More and more, research is now showing that a high intake of saturated fats (butter, egg yolks, bacon) has little if any negative effect on heart disease rates. I predict we will continue to find that saturated fats in our diet are not negative, but are indeed vital to the function of multiple organs and body systems, the most important being the brain and its memory. Most doctors know that the human brain can burn glucose as energy. However, many doctors have forgotten that the brain can also burn selected fats as energy. Some progressive doctors are actually starting to believe that the dementia epidemic in our society could be at least partially treated or prevented by increasing the fat intake of the elderly, and perhaps even by stopping elderly patient’s cholesterol medicine (statins).”
In other words: for years, doctors have been prescribing extremely expensive, potentially even harmful drugs (statins) because they believed that it was necessary to lower the “bad” cholesterol levels. How many billions of dollars has the Industry taken in thanks to the sale of statins?
Science journalist Maryanne Demasi has this to report (complete article here): “Pfizer’s Lipitor is the most profitable drug in the history of medicine. At its peak in 2006, yearly revenue for Lipitor exceeded $US 12 billion.
Despite their patents recently expiring, revenue for statins is still expected to rise, with total sales on track to reach an estimated $1 trillion by 2020. Statins are very big business.”
Could this be why statins are still being prescribed, despite growing evidence that they may well not be necessary at all?
Where such huge sums of money are involved, it is little wonder that corruption and greed take hold of people, and seduce them into thinking mainly of their profits, even if that means that others will be harmed. Thus, the Pharmaceutical Industry is quite willing to deceive not only the general public, but also the doctors who write the prescriptions. On the other hand, doctors who are regularly offered “bribes” to continue prescribing those drugs, may often think that those medications are truly the best option, and thus see it as a “win-win” situation: the patient gets treated, and the doctor him/herself benefits by free vacations paid for by the Industry (often in the form of medical seminars that “coincidentally” take place in beautiful tropical beach resorts, and the like), and other “perks”.
What’s that? You think I may be exaggerating? Then let’s hear what Peter Rost, the ex-vice-president of the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company (and, since making the following statement, one of the Industry’s enemies), has to say…
“It is scary how many similarities there are between this industry and the mob. The mob makes obscene amounts of money, as does this industry. The side effects of organized crime are killings and deaths, and the side effects are the same in this industry. The mob bribes politicians and others, and so does the drug industry.”
A chilling revelation from someone who knows!
While researching on the Internet, I found a number of medical sites that claimed that the side effects of statins weren’t really so dangerous. Is this true? I hardly think so. Why? Because it would seem that in addition to not giving all their raw data to independent researchers so that they may test the conclusions, those who do the research often manipulate the results. A second article by Doctor Demasi gives a short summary of the situation.
So please, for your own sake: do not simply accept any medications your doctor recommends; do a little research on your own, to find out:
1) If the medical condition you have could possibly be treated just as well – and much more safely – with certain natural remedies.
2) To see whether the medication could have harmful – and long-term, perhaps even devastating – side effects.
Remember: it’s your health and well-being – and ultimately, your very life − that is at stake!