Abuses and Unethical Behavior in Health Care?

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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. Question: 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? Please respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.