"Big Pharma" is not the same thing they were years ago. At one time, we had the benefit of a large group of doctors and researchers striving to CURE a disease. Polio, smallpox, etc... were essentially removed from the planet. What we have now is trillion dollar corporations all trying to cash in on the next blockbuster drug, more than one CEO has been quoted as wanting to make a certain disease "treatable" -the term "curable" never enters the equation, they want to sell you a dose every day for the rest of your life. As soon as a drug or device attains success, all that company's competitors direct massive resources to come up with something nearly identical, but different enough to get patented, so they can cash in on the wave. Many of these drugs and devices are known to be harmful, but the manufacturers bank on making fat profits before the problems come to light. There is only lip service to something like a "cure for cancer". While there are researchers working to find cures for various cancers, there is no real effort to do so by the corporations in control. The CEOs, Marketing and Sales reps know they can almost always skip out when the cows come home, taking their fortunes with them. The odds of their being helt to account are miniscule... about the same as your average member of congress.
I've worked for a manufacturer of medical devices for nearly 40 years, I've witnessed a lot of this first hand.
Thank you for that posting, pstehle.
It doesn't surprise me at all, and I've often mentioned the increased amount of Corporate Greed that has taken over those once-reliable corporations.
I've occasionally wondered about why cancer cures have never been successful across the board, with all the technology available today.
I get the feeling that by ever finding a cure, it would affect the revenue stream to Big Pharma, so they continue to play games, to insure that income.
As for the Medical Devices that you mentioned.....
It's funny, but a while back when I was chief service technician at the shop, an employee, I can't remember what area of medicine they were in, brought me a piece of equipment to repair.
I don't remember what it was used for, it had tubing, valves, knobs, and meters.
I was hesitant to even bother with it, since I'm a highly trained tech for home entertainment products.
But the guy begged me to at least take a look at it......
So.... once on my service bench, with the case off of the "thing", it turns out that a wire broke loose leading to a circuit board, and was due to sloppy soldering.
In fact, the whole way it was assembled looks like a tragedy waiting to happen!
