Just how crazy is the following story?
You decide.
According to Crain’s Business Magazine, prominent pharmaceutical manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals and a subsidiary have agreed to pay approximately $28 million to the state of Illinois and the United States in a settlement, following claims that Teva paid a Chicago psychiatrist to prescribe an anti-psychotic medication to thousands of nursing home patients insured by the government.
Details released from the office of the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois alleged that in the aftermath of large payments made by Teva to psychiatrist Dr. Michael Reinstein, the doctor apparently became the largest prescriber of generic clozapine in the country.
“Pharmaceutical companies must not be allowed to improperly influence physicians’ decisions in prescribing medication for their patients,” U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon said in a written statement. “Instead, those decisions must be made solely on the basis of the patient’s best medical interests.”
It behooves us all to stay within the boundaries of responsibility and not let money be the be-all-and-end-all. As you can see from this story, this pharmaceutical giant thought playing the system was going to be super profitable.
To put it mildly: They were crazy for thinking that.