On Friday the major pharmaceutical company Johnson &Johnson came under fire from the Department of Justice for a scheme to illegally promote the use of their drugs in nursing homes.

In a formal complaint, the Dept of Justice alleges that J&J paid kickbacks to a major drug supplier of nursing homes ensuring at least one of their drugs would be heavily pushed. The company is OmniCare and the drug Risperdal, an anti-schizophrenic.

“Kickbacks such as those alleged here distort the judgments of health care professionals and put profits ahead of sound medical treatment, “Tony West, assistant Attorney General.
OmniCare is alleged to have to have received tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks from J&J for having their representatives particularly recommend the drug. J&J knew that the nursing home staff listened to the Omnicare representative’s recommendations around 80% of time which would obviously increase profits.

The complaint alleges that this illegal campaign resulted in sales of J&J drugs via OmniCare to nursing homes skyrocketing from $100 million dollars to $280 million dollars.

It has sadly become standard practice in nursing homes around the country to take the “easy” way out and drug patients with heavy mind numbing medications like Risperdal. This puts the elderly patients into zombie-like stupors and greatly lowers their health and well being. Risperdal and other drugs in this class carry an FDA-mandated warning describing significantly increased death rates when prescribed inappropriately to the elderly. This dire warning is typically ignored in favor of convenient drug-induced restraint.

Chemical restraint is a sordid practice of using prescription drugs for difficult behaviors, which has become commonplace in institutions from nursery schools to nursing homes. This is the same company named in a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of Texas, which alleges that the company unduly influenced children’s’ medication protocols. Why would they push dangerous chemical restraint of our most vulnerable populations on such a large scale if Johnson&Johnson actually cared about the patients?

An article was just released in the New England Journal of Medicine outlining some very interesting statistics about American health.

The study was recently released using data collected in 2006. It is not new that America is behind many other countries in terms of individual health and longevity. In fact, our health care system is ranked 37^th in the world. What you might not have known is that we are ranked number 1 is spending; America spends more health care dollars per person that any other nation.

More facts:

-U.S. is ranked 39^th for infant lifespan,

-43^nd for female lifespan,

-42^nd for male lifespan.

We spend the most money but are not even near the top on healthiest countries. We’re certainly not living as long as in many other modern countries. Why is this? The latest technology and patented drugs are all over TV screens and magazine pages. These newer treatments are the most costly and it is these that are pushed on the American consumer and physician alike.

Advances in medicine are always important, but when a new procedure without a proven safety record rushes onto the scene and is marketed are the miracle cure people tend to demand it. Sometimes there are disastrous consequences. Many examples of this exist including FenPhen, Vioxx and inappropriate use of drug coated stents.

In order to survive in today’s high tech world you’ve got to have all the information. Whether you’re buying a new TV or trying to decide on taking a new medication, unless you have all the facts you’re not going to know what you’re getting into.

Use SmartMEDinfo as a resource to make sure you fully understand the treatment options offered to you. The drug or procedure may be new and expensive, but will it actually benefit you?

References:

http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=2610&query=TOC