[Pc_Support] Re: Conspiracy... What conspiracy? -- adouble-standard?

[Justin M. Keyes]

On 10/17/05, Damien McKenna <dmckenna at thelimucompany.com> wrote:
> > > Off-topic, but I appreciate not dying from random drugs
> > > that may or may not work as a drug company chooses to claim were
> > > there only the free market in effect.
> >
> > I like to make my own choices
>
> Glad to see you've never visited a doctor's office in the past twenty
> years.

The FDA has existed for all of that time.

> Last year I was given one drug for asthma by a doctor.  Shortly there
> after I developed a nasty ailment, had several visits to the same doctor
> and specialists to work out what the ailment was.  I finally realized
> the ailment was a reaction to the drug I was given so I stopped taking
> it.  A month or so later returned to the doctor with more asthma
> problems and was given *exactly* *the* *same* *drug*.  Needless to say I
> didn't take it and I've not been back to that doctor since.
>
> How many other people consult with doctors on an ailment and are given
> drugs that later turn out to have major side effects -

So the government didn't protect them, or you, and they still have to
make their own decisions, educate themselves, use references, depend
on consumer watchdogs (not the government), and, if the FDA didn't
exist, we would have private organizations that would review and
"approve" drugs and let you decide whether you care about that
approval. And the freedom to take risk, if we choose.

> the media these days is full of court cases regarding similar problems.

The media isn't controlled by the government, but it alerts consumers.

> How many
> doctors are still saying that recalled drugs e.g. Vioxx, are safe when
> people have died from taking it?

I thought the government protected you from having to make decisions?

> Freedom of choice doesn't make much
> difference if you don't have the information available to make your decision,

That's not at all contingent on the government having the power to
tell me (at gunpoint) that I'm not allowed to purchase a drug they
don't approve of (for instance, an experimental drug that may cure a
terminal illness). Informed decisions, approval committees, corporate
reputations, consumer networks, all work quite nicely without facism.

> or if the healthcare providers (e.g. doctors, hospitals) are
> getting paid by the pharmaceutical companies to push their products.

This already happens. The solution is that physicians hold certain
liabilities, which means you can issue a claim against them if they
intentionally harm you; that's how it works today, in fact.

--
Justin Keyes