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Doctor Gets 4 Years in Prison for Insys Opioid Kickbacks
- anonymous5133 9y agoFYI, there is a new episode on american greed which pretty much shows how these type of operations worked. Insys basically gave the kickbacks by having the doctors give "speeches" but it turns out no speeches were given and the doctors got the checks anyways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2WBKkyFpRo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2WBKkyFpRo
- joe_the_user 9y agoGreed and stupidity. A regular "speech" isn't that hard to organize. It's like the leading edge of medical-pharmaceutical industry has devolved from the legal corruption of payments informally coupled to favors to the illegality of payments directly so tied out of laziness and impatience. Perhaps these folks are sampling their own wares too much.
- 75dvtwin 9y agoSeems like paid speeches (and charities) are a form of bribery vehicle, not sure which English-speaking country this was first pioneered, but American politicians seem to be most active users of this method. [1] [1] https://www.salon.com/2013/07/17/the_buckraking_practices_of_hillary_clinton_and_8_other_political_heavies_partner/ https://www.salon.com/2013/07/17/the_buckraking_practices_of...
- rdtsc 9y ago> it turns out no speeches were given and the doctors got the checks anyways. True, but it's not like if they did, the situation would be that much better. In a way for them they screwed up because the actually didn't bother playing the bribery sham all the way through like say political candidates do. For example, Hillary Clinton made $3M from speeches to large banks in just 2 years: https://theintercept.com/2016/01/08/hillary-clinton-earned-more-from-12-speeches-to-big-banks-than-most-americans-earn-in-their-lifetime/ https://theintercept.com/2016/01/08/hillary-clinton-earned-m... but they were actually organized enough to have "speechs". I remember the transcript of one was leaked, and you'd think they'd be some really deep insights and strategy laid out for the future that's worth $600k. But it was mostly "you all great, thanks for creating jobs etc etc". It is legal of course, but everyone know what it really is.
- ggg9990 9y agoIt’s not clear what it really is. People pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hollywood celebrities for appearances too, with no expectations of political favors.
- vostok 9y agoIf I was organizing a speech and had a budget of a few hundred thousand then Hillary Clinton would be near the top of my list.
- xor1 9y agoAre those appearances private?
- disillusioned 9y agoI mean, I'm in EO and our chapter spends about $150k/year on appearances from popular speakers. We're not buying influence or lobbying, and they're private appearances, yes. They're on a variety of topics from a variety of people that the organization thinks we'll find valuable, and the market has set a pretty steep price for some of the better speakers. /shrug
- kamaal 9y agoAttaching big names to your cause gives it a lot of legitimacy(at-least the perception is that way), May be that is why.
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- mattnewton 9y agoThat’s great: where are the cases against Insys?
- efini 9y agoWill Trump support the execution of this man and other legal drug dealers like him as well?
- astura 9y agoThis is getting down voted but I don't think that's fair, it's not off topic. Trump said yesterday he's in favor of the death penalty for drug dealers because they are responsible for the death of others. It's a fair question to ask if there should be a distinction between street dealers and these doctors and executives.
- onetimemanytime 9y agoTrump is the President, not a King. This doc has been convicted and was sentenced based on the laws in place when he commuted the crimes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_post_facto_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_post_facto_law and all. Also Trump cannot force the US Congress and Senate to pass the laws. Or the courts to judge that this is compatible with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruel_and_unusual_punishment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruel_and_unusual_punishment
- mikeash 9y agoThe question is whether he would support it, not whether he would enact it by decree.
- enraged_camel 9y agoYes, exactly. And I think we already know that the answer is no, he wouldn't support it. Trump has a very childish perception of the world, and a doctor undoubtedly does not fit his mental image of the drug dealer stereotype.
- UrukParthian 9y agoIt's almost like politicians manage their perception and image in strategic ways where they lull their enemies into being emotionally caught up with minor character flaws rather than the tactics and orientation of their actions. The smugness of people against Trump is even more worse than the smugness people had against George W. They're not idiots. They're sharks who have a very clear aptitude at manipulating people and public perception. It's very bad strategy, and very human, to ascribe to your opponents victories as "luck" and to ascribe their mentality as "dumb".
- 1ris 9y agoHow many years would a street dealer have gotten? 40 years?
- dcposch 9y agoThat just means we should treat low level criminals humanely. Four years is plenty. The thing where decade plus sentences are fairly common is unique in the first world: only in America. It’s barbaric and embarrassing. The science is pretty unambiguous—a high likelihood of being caught and punished is a better deterrent than a low-probability but larger punishment. So I don’t want to see this doctor get a 40-year sentence. I’d rather see lots of doctors who accepted gifts from opioid manufacturers get one-year sentences. Most important is that the pharma executives go to jail, too. Criminal justice should never be about retribution. In this case, the purpose is to keep future patients safe.
- koolba 9y agoIt’s really not. Four years is hardly a deterrent. It’s barely a slap on the wrist considering the number of lives destroyed by that plague. What’s makes this particularly heinous is the trust we place as a society in medical providers. The vast majority of people will take whatever medicine a doctor prescribes. No questions asked. Abusing that position of power is sickening.
- rhizome 9y agoFour years is hardly a deterrent What do you know? Do tell.
- CamperBob2 9y agoHonestly, if you could make $10M as a mid-level distributor, squirrel most of it away tax-free, with the downside risk being only four years in the pen, that would be a massive rational win for most people. Of course, the only reason you can make millions of dollars illegally at this racket is because it's illegal in the first place, so never mind. Drug laws cause far more harm to society than the drugs themselves ever could. Any argument to the contrary can trivially be resolved to a special-pleading fallacy.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- RobLach 9y agoWhile his victims get a life sentence of addiction.
- username223 9y ago> [Doctor], who lost his medical license and was ousted from his post as a Brown University professor, pleaded guilty to taking more than $188,000 in kickbacks disguised as speaker fees and creating false patient records to dupe insurers into covering Insys’s Subsys pain medication... > ... [his] son was an Insys sales representative for a year and made “substantial commissions” from his father’s willingness to prescribe the drug, according to prosecutors. The son wasn’t charged in the case. Oh, gee, it's Purdue Pharma again, i.e. the Sackler family. How am I not surprised, and how are they not fined?
- ransom1538 9y agoAs a side project I sorted the doctors based on opioid prescribe count. It isn't hard to see who the pill shops are -- I am sure the DEA can do a sql command. IMHO they (DEA) prefers kicking down doors in poor areas. https://www.opendoctor.io/opioid/highest/?hn=1 https://www.opendoctor.io/opioid/highest/?hn=1 From article, John Couch and Xiulu Ruan are on top of the list.
- adrr 9y agoInteresting that John Couch and Xiulu Ruan are on top of the list. They were mentioned in the article.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- chime 9y agoAs bad as pill mills are, wouldn't 'Pain Management' clinics rate high in this query since they give out pills to manage legitimate pain? I have multiple herniated cervical disks and am going in for surgery soon because the pain is debilitating and unbearable. Among other specialists, I saw a pain management doctor to understand my non-surgical options. Many people with my condition choose to not get implants or disk fusions and instead opt for steroids, epidurals, and opioids. Legitimate doctors at pain management clinics will rank high on these lists if they have a lot of really sick patients who don't want neurosurgery.
- ransom1538 9y agoYes! 'Pain Management' would be a high subscriber. But being the top 5 in the US? Maybe, but that is pretty strange - definitely worth a DEA trip. 'Family Medicine' in the top 40? Hm....
- freedomben 9y ago"A DEA trip" is not a small thing. It's a terrifying thing. It can be the end of your livelihood if you're a doctor, even if you've done nothing wrong. There is no shortage of stories about that happening (and what about the hundreds of patients who are suddenly left stranded with debilitating chronic pain?)[1]. I wouldn't call for you to have an "IRS trip" or some other jack-booted government agency, nor do I think you should call for the DEA to visit other people. It's this type of attitude that is literally killing pain patients [2]. But then again, I don't think it is any of my business what other adults want to put into their own bodies, so even if some doc office were a pill mill I wouldn't care. [1] Here's one off the top of my head: https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/12/28/tennant-patients-live-in-fear-of-dea https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/12/28/tennant-p...). [2] https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/9/4/how-chronic-pain-killed-my-husband https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/9/4/how-chronic...
- omgPhysics 9y ago"Rosenberg’s son was an Insys sales representative for a year and made “substantial commissions” from his father’s willingness to prescribe the drug, according to prosecutors. The son wasn’t charged in the case." A not-so-bright outlook for actually holding Insys's CEO responsible. Why were charges not brought on middle level employees especially if the father-son relationship could be an easy access route to bribery. EDIT: Even the court document does not list is full name, Rosenberg's son is simply referred to as Insys Rep A.R.
- aaronmdjones 9y agoPerhaps this is an indication that the son flipped.
- wallace_f 9y agoI have this entirely unscientifically-gathered impression that could be erroneous, but it certainly appears there is not just a divide in justice between rich and poor, but also across professions. Someone on Mars would swear there is an unwritten law in the US that doctors be held to higher standards than average. And some are held to lower standards, such as police officers. Perhaps this isn't true, but it certainly seems like it based on the events I've come across in my life, and in the news.
- mirimir 9y agoThis got lots of attention because it involves opiates. But bribes and kickbacks to doctors from big pharma are common for all top-selling drugs.
- umanwizard 9y agoShkreli got 7 years for financial fraud that didn’t end up costing anyone any money, and this guy only got four years for actually threatening people’s lives. Seems out of whack - what gives?