Healthcare Fraud

Fat, Stressed and not Very Healthy -- How We Rank in the Human Capital Index

By Gordon Schnell Just when it seemed like America's global standing could not get any worse, here is a new finding that sinks us even lower.  We are a country of overweight, highly stressed and generally unhealthy people.  That is the ultimate pronouncement from the Human Capital Report just released by the World Economic Forum.  It ranks the 122 major countries of the world according to how healthy,...

Death by Hospital Errors

By Gordon Schnell As if we did not have enough to worry about with healthcare these days.  Here is a new concern to add to the list -- getting seriously or fatally injured in the hospital from a medical mistake or accident.  Hard to believe with all our advances in science and medicine, but hospital errors now constitute the third leading cause of death in this country (behind heart disease and cancer).  And it...

How to Sell a Disease – The Low-Testosterone Marketing Blitz

By Gordon Schnell Decreased energy.  Depressed mood.  Diminished muscle mass.  Dampened sex drive.  These are the daily woes facing millions of middle-aged American men.  It is all caused by a deficiency of the mighty male hormone testosterone, a condition better known these days as Low-T.  The problem is that the principal promoter of this diagnosis is not from within the medical establishment.  It is the...

Another Preemption Decision Sheltering Drug Makers from Liability

By Marlene Koury Pharmaceutical companies are on a roll.  They continue to prevail in court by relying on the preemption doctrine to block injured consumers from suing over defective drugs.  First, in the recent Mutual Pharmaceutical v. Bartlett and PLIVA v. Mensing decisions, the Supreme Court held that federal law bars suits against generic drug companies for defects in the design or labeling of their...

Beware of Internet Pharmacies

By Gordon Schnell If they seem like they are too good to be true, they most likely are.  That was the central message coming out of the latest FDA sweep of Internet pharmacies.  It resulted in the shuttering of 1,677 pharmacy websites for selling counterfeit, substandard or unsafe drugs.  Thousands more received regulatory warnings.  It was all part of the FDA's ongoing global crusade -- in partnership with...

Supreme Court Further Limits Liability of Generics for Faulty Drugs

By Gordon Schnell In what is being hailed as a major victory for generic drug makers (but not necessarily for consumers), the Supreme Court ruled last week that these companies cannot be held liable for defects in the design of their products.  The decision follows from the Court's 2011 ruling that similarly shielded the generics from liability for inadequate safety warnings on their drug labels.  Taken together,...

Breaking Further into the Black Box of Hospital Pricing

By Gordon Schnell It was only a few months ago that a groundbreaking study out of the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine empirically demonstrated what we pretty much already know about hospital pricing.  That it is subject to a complete lack of transparency and a total disconnect from the regular forces of supply and demand.  The study surveyed 120 hospitals across the country on their pricing for a...

More Doctors Speak Out on the High Cost of Cancer Drugs

By Gordon Schnell It is becoming a more common occurrence these days.  Doctors taking a strong and very public stand against what they perceive to be out-of-control pricing for cancer drugs.  A few months ago, it was the famed Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center refusing to use for its patients a new drug called Zaltrap for treating advanced colorectal cancer.  Now, it is a global gathering of prominent...