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Health-records software pushed opioids to doctors in secret deal with drugmaker

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261–269 of 269 posts

Re: Health-records software pushed opioids to doctors in secret deal with drugmaker

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you consider the girls who filed documents for the SS innocent?

Well, maybe not as guilty as the people who created and maintained the systems the SS used.

The german mass murderer system was perfectly designed regarding minimizing repsonsiblity and traum to those involved.

There was a prisoner getting them into the shower. There was somebody else, who just dropped a tin of cyanide down a drain. There was a prisoner crew to get the bodys out. Reponsiblity, so atomized, its inhumane.

Re: Health-records software pushed opioids to doctors in secret deal with drugmaker

#263

[when opening a patients records] a pop-up would appear, asking about a patient’s level of pain. Then, a drop-down menu would list treatments ranging from a referral to a pain specialist to a prescription for an opioid painkiller. Click a button, and the program would create a treatment plan. From 2016 to spring 2019, the alert went off about 230 million times. The tool existed thanks to a secret deal. Its maker, a s…

I was also surprised quite a bit to find out that advertising is a thing in the programs of doctors in Germany. The regulating body sets as a rule that an ad-free version needs to be available as well. So there’s also a bit of fault on the doctors deciding to save few euros and taking the version with ads.

In Germany, pharamceutial companies use young attractive women to pimp their products to doctors, and its not uncommon for doctors to be visited 7 or 8 times a month by these representatives.

It should be noted also, that prostitution is legal in Germany.

Re: Health-records software pushed opioids to doctors in secret deal with drugmaker

#264
post #90

As a non-American I'm also curious about the mass necessity of opioid painkillers to begin with. From what I hear, people are prescribed opioids post surgery etc. which is bonkers to me as a foreigner. I'm a middle aged person and I have never seen anyone using opioid painkillers anywhere in my life. They give stuff to you when you are having surgery, and when you are in hospital's care, but something very extraordin…

You're premise is likely incorrect. As a non-American there is a very good chance there is an opiate available over the counter with no prescription in the form of codine. https://www.oecd.org/health/health-systems/opioids.htm It's not an American problem, its a "First World" problem.

That graph puts things in perspective. It turns out that I'm living in a country where opioids are not very available compared to other nations. Here you can't even get cough syrup with codeine in it without a prescription and even then doctors won't generally prescribe that.

Re: Health-records software pushed opioids to doctors in secret deal with drugmaker

#265
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or has all white crime been made legal in America? Can you think of a time when it was significantly more likely for something like this to end up with execs in jail?

it's been a few thousand years, but maybe the Code of Hammurabi might be of assistance If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.

Or "If someone breaks a leg of one of your slaves, you have the right to break a leg of one of his slaves".

Time to get software engineer's family members hooked on opioids!

Re: Health-records software pushed opioids to doctors in secret deal with drugmaker

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Martin Shkreli was doomed from the start, never underestimate the power of being the media's boogieman. His crime was essentially using investors funds improperly, all ended paid back in full, many made decent profits.

But it was not a crime to raise the drug price for insurance companies (only).

The crime was boasting about it being legal. It made him public enemy number one.

I think history will judge him a lot less harshly than the current media cycle did.

Big pharma do this stuff for breakfast weekly and no one says a word nor been thrown in jail for years for it.

Re: Health-records software pushed opioids to doctors in secret deal with drugmaker

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More reasons to push for Professional Ethics Boards with teeth and/or unions with ethics rules.

As software continues to become a structural part of society that becomes more and more evident. Civil engineers cracked the problem mostly by been able to say know and know that they had top-cover.

...but then programmers wouldn't be able to assert innocence and powerlessness. They might have to make decisions that would limit their income or result in consequences.

Re: Health-records software pushed opioids to doctors in secret deal with drugmaker

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As software continues to become a structural part of society that becomes more and more evident. Civil engineers cracked the problem mostly by been able to say know and know that they had top-cover.

...but then programmers wouldn't be able to assert innocence and powerlessness. They might have to make decisions that would limit their income or result in consequences.

True but it’s a lot easier to say no as a civil engineer with both legal and professional bodies backing you than currently.

It’s a trade off and it wasn’t something that happened over night it took centuries of disasters for civil engineering to become the way it is, software outside of academia is a minnow by comparison.

We may get there but it’ll take a successive series of software disasters to get to it sadly.

Re: Health-records software pushed opioids to doctors in secret deal with drugmaker

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of a time about 125 years ago that it was significantly more likely that execs of the company would end up with a bullet in their head or their loved ones kidnapped and ransomed for such shenanigans. (Note; This is obviously bad and I'm not advocating for it, but it's more than just "no jail time and you have to sell your third and fourth house to pay the fine".)

> "no jail time and you have to sell your third and fourth house to pay the fine" I might be too cynical, but I half-expect the company to have insurance to cover it.

Most insurance policies exclude willful criminal acts perpetrated by the policy owner.
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