Moral Hazard
A True Story By Henry Broeska
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"The truth is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to or not. The truth doesn’t care about our needs or wants. … It will lie in wait for all time.” — Valery Legasov
"The truth is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to or not. The truth doesn’t care about our needs or wants. … It will lie in wait for all time.” — Valery Legasov
Corruption is an indisputable reality in medical research. It’s growing prevalence is the most serious ethical emergency in medicine today. In the shadow of cover given by multinational pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions, it remains virtually unconfronted, not only by professional associations of physicians and bioethicists, but by law enforcement. This book details a recent incident that occurred in Canada and spilled over to international venues. It involves drug companies, dishonest media, corrupt lawyers, and an unscrupulous provincial medical board, with tentacles that go right up to the top office of a healthcare system. The kind of corruption detailed in this book not only holds medical research back decades, but traps millions of vulnerable patients in sickness and poverty. Corruption in medical research maintains the current disparities in income and health, and drains the available resources from being able to study medical cures that actually work. Drug companies have a fiduciary responsibility to serve their shareholders, not patients. They sponsor research that in effect, keeps chronically ill patients just healthy enough to pay exorbitant prices of marginal drugs for years while their health deteriorates. They see nothing wrong with this and fight zealously for their right to do it. That is why, for the common good, the public must stand up to the conflicts of interest that result in unethical and corrupt practices in medical research. The true story told in this book must be a call to action.
Corruption is an indisputable reality in medical research. It’s growing prevalence is the most serious ethical emergency in medicine today. In the shadow of cover given by multinational pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions, it remains virtually unconfronted, not only by professional associations of physicians and bioethicists, but by law enforcement. This book details a recent incident that occurred in Canada and spilled over to international venues. It involves drug companies, dishonest media, corrupt lawyers, and an unscrupulous provincial medical board, with tentacles that go right up to the top office of a healthcare system. The kind of corruption detailed in this book not only holds medical research back decades, but traps millions of vulnerable patients in sickness and poverty. Corruption in medical research maintains the current disparities in income and health, and drains the available resources from being able to study medical cures that actually work. Drug companies have a fiduciary responsibility to serve their shareholders, not patients. They sponsor research that in effect, keeps chronically ill patients just healthy enough to pay exorbitant prices of marginal drugs for years while their health deteriorates. They see nothing wrong with this and fight zealously for their right to do it. That is why, for the common good, the public must stand up to the conflicts of interest that result in unethical and corrupt practices in medical research. The true story told in this book must be a call to action.
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