Day 289: How Much Does Healthcare Industry Care About Us?

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy advertised ‘metal-on-metal’ hip implants despite a top surgeon allegedly telling one of the manufacturer’s executives in an email that they were causing problems.
Tests found the hips failed after two and a half years far more regularly than other models - but they were continually marketed to British patients, despite them being suspected of poisoning the blood.
More than 10,000 patients in Britain were fitted with the implants, which are thought to wear down and cause potentially toxic metal to get into the bloodstream. They were taken out of use in 2010.
Revelations over the warnings appeared in a court case in Los Angeles, looking at the compensation of patients, in which Loren Kransky, 65, is suing DePuy for failing to warm him the hip could be faulty.
In metal-on-metal implants, the ball and socket of the hip are replaced with metal instead of one or both being another material, like plastic or ceramic. It is deemed a failure if it has to be taken out. - MailOnline

We've all seen and heard about horror stories involving companies in the healthcare sector. We all know that the primary goes of these companies is to make as much profit as possible - NOT to provide the best care possible. For some reason, despite the atrocities that happen and our knowledge about the workings and goals of these companies, we do nothing to change, or even find solutions for the way our healthcare system functions.

Unfortunately, this quality control problem is not restricted to the healthcare industry - consider how many cars are recalled every year due to faulty parts prone to spontaneous combustion or some such unexpected and potentially lethal failure. Alas, quality control is not the priority for most businesses, as that would decrease their profit margin and cause the directors to receive smaller bonus packages. The healthcare industry is just that: an industry - it is controlled and regulated by a small group of elites who have agreed to support each other's ventures and therefore everything they do ensures the best profit margins at all times.

If the healthcare industry really cared about providing the best healthcare possible to all, then it would look much different to how it looks and functions now: if some flaw slipped through quality control it would be recalled and fixed immediately, not hidden from public for as long as possible, waiting for some huge court case to possibly expose it (and even then they might get away with it); it would be free to all always; it would be based on the principles of prevention by investigating primarily how lifestyle and diet influences human health; and side effects of drugs and treatments will be minimised as far as possible - to name a few...

It would seem that all the big brands we know and trust maintain their image by being better at managing public perception and hiding embarrassing problems - they tend to "redeem" themselves by paying huge settlements to the people they wronged and so then we all think that "maybe they're not so bad after all" - but that's only if they get caught.

Healthcare should be a career path for only those who truly want to help other people - not for those who see an opportunity to make money. We need to take the industry out of healthcare and emphasise the care.