Discussion:
Abuses and Unethical Behavior in Health Care?
Watch Bad Medicine: The Glaxo Case. Drugs provide society with enormous benefits:
• they reduce mortality and morbidity;
• relieve pain and suffering;
• are less expensive forms of treatment than surgery and hospitalization,
• are more readily accessible to a larger portion of the population than are more expensive technologies and have enabled physicians to see more patients with improved treatment outcomes.
The U.S. spends over $300 billion drugs annually, and we expect safe and effective drugs. Yet society seems to have a special place for the U.S. Drug Industry, because they do produce these life savings/sustaining products. Yet within the past few years, issues have been raised that question some of these company's ethics and the safety of some of these drugs.
Q: Should we treat abuses/unethical behavior in the U.S. drug industry and our entire health care industry differently than we do in the banking industry or auto industry? Why or why not?