graphic of Monopoly banker, B/W illustration

Over just the last few months, a rash of unethical corporate behaviors, all in some way involving monetary influences on health care, have come to light.

One was a disclosure about the Harvard Medical School showing that in the 1960s the sugar industry redirected researchers away from the conclusion that sugar contributed to heart disease. We are just now overcoming that bias after how many millions of deaths from heart disease? Whistleblowers inside the CDC filed an ethics complaint against the CDC over corporate influences on their governmental agency. The two major soda manufacturers have been funding nearly 100 national medical and public health organizations, influencing those organizations’ messages about sodas.

Despite the heavy and odious competition, the worst might be the latest episode of pharmaceutical companies acquiring a monopoly on a vitally important, but inexpensive drug, and then kicking the price through the roof. The unconscionable arrogance, in this case the drug manufacturer Mylan and EpiPen, is truly horrific.

The good news is that most doctors are starting to realize how naive they have been. There is a long road yet to travel.

Written by 

Michael Carlston, MD is an internationally recognized authority in the integration of conventional and complementary medicine in clinical practice, as well as medical education, research and organizational consulting. Practicing in Santa Rosa, California, Dr. Carlston was voted “Best General Physician In Sonoma County, California” by readers of the Sonoma County Independent newspaper and also named one of the outstanding physicians in the Bay Area by San Francisco Focus Magazine. With 30+ years in private practice, his expertise is in nutrition, homeopathy and sports medicine.