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The Gaffer's Philosophy:
Part 131: License To Kill:
November 29, 2004:
We can get more into healthcare issues later, but for now this is just one example of what can be wrought by dishonest cooperation between government and industrial management. It is just one of many examples of why Groundswell is becoming more and more necessary. It has to do with Michigan lawmakers, Merck, and Vioxx. This is a bit personal about what was done to me. Skip it if you wish.
For background, I took Vioxx for several months about two years ago. It took quite a while for me to realize something was wrong. Because my wife is an RN, we finally did connect the onset of swelling in my legs to the use of Vioxx. Of course, I stopped taking the drug immediately. After that, it took several weeks for my legs to return to normal size. That is an indication of how much of that poison had accumulated in my system.
In a physical exam, prior to the swelling, my doctor had discovered I had an atrial fibrillation. For the record, that means I had an irregular heart beat. This was in a heart that had been beating fairly steadily for 72 years. It even managed to recover from a couple of blocked arteries which caused minor heart attacks, but no fibrillation. This was the first indication that Vioxx was poisonous, but I did not realize it at the time. Perhaps I or my doctor should have made the connection with Vioxx, but at that time we did not. It was not until later when I had connected Vioxx with my leg swelling that I stopped using it.
After stopping Vioxx, I was still not doing well. My strength and endurance continued to decrease. I was getting more and more fatigued with each passing day. One day of crisis came when I was unable to pull the lever to raise my legs in a reclining chair. I knew something was seriously wrong and I asked my wife to call the doctor. My doctor did not waste any time. He sent me immediately to the emergency room at Genesys regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Something was indeed wrong. It seems my legs were not the only site where excess fluid had accumulated. I had pneumonia in one lung. I was admitted to the hospital immediately.
Please understand pneumonia is not a trivial problem even in a young person. For an old gentleman like me, it can easily be fatal. Obviously, it was not fatal for me. The quick action of my doctor and the outstanding people at Genesys turned the prognosis in my favor. It took several days, but I did recover from the bout with the grim reaper. No thanks to Merck, we beat that guy with the scythe again.
Once out of the hospital and with the leg swelling gone, I thought I was out of the woods. I was wrong! I had waited too long to stop. On my next physical exam my doctor confirmed I still had the heart problem. It was not going to go away. The fibrillation was a lifetime condition. I was going to have to live with it or die of it.
That means two things. First, I would have to be on the very dangerous blood thinner drug Coumadin for the rest of my life. This drug is so dangerous its effect must be monitored on a regular basis. Each month, from now on, I will need to get my blood level checked for this drug. Too little and I am in danger of a stroke or heart attack. Too much and I am in danger of bleeding to death with just a minor wound. Now isn't that a grand state of affairs? That means a visit to my doctor and a needle in the arm once a month, forever.
To me, that is not the worst part. Not at all. The worst part is the seemingly permanent loss of strength that accompanied this heart condition. I am a guy who loves to do and build things. In addition to my writing I love to garden, to build things out of wood or metal, and also do my share of household chores. Now I find I can only do physical things for about an hour before I am so fatigued I must sit down and rest. After that, I must wait for a couple of day to be physical again.
In addition, I must be always careful of even minor injuries. A nick on the finger that I would once have ignored, must be bandaged immediately. It must be tightly bandaged or it will continue to bleed. When I build things now, I must be very careful with my tools, lest I cause a serious injury that would bleed for hours. It's true. I have already experienced a cut that did not seal for two days.
With all of this, I have been of the opinion that my quality of life has been seriously comprised by ingestion of the faulty drug, Vioxx. Then I discovered that Merck was taking the drug off the market. They pretended they had just discovered what I already knew. Their drug was deadly. In fact, it had already caused strokes and heart attacks. It had killed people. Even before they took it off the market I was considering a suit against Merck. After that I was ready. Then I discovered the ugly truth about our state government.
I have discovered, from an article in the Detroit News by Sheir Hall (October 10, 2004) that our Michigan legislature has betrayed us again. It seems in 1995 our lawmakers slipped another law through to protect their big contributors, the drug makers. There was no ballyhoo about this law. It was quietly slipped under the radar. This law makes it impossible to sue the drug makers even if we have proof that the drug did damage to us. All they have to show is they did not lie to the FDA. Never mind that they lied to doctors and to the public. That does not count.
There is also evidence surfacing about the FDA. It seems the fix was in. A British medical journal, Lancet, says the evidence on Vioxx existed four years ago. In addition a fellow named Graham, an employee of the FDA, reports he was ordered to water down a report that was critical of Vioxx. Was there collusion? We don't know for sure. Is anyone investigating? ABC is? I suspect other news people are also looking into it. I can hope.
It may not matter for me. In Michigan, and only in Michigan, It is impossible to seek redress for grievous injury caused by the carelessness of the drug industry so long as the federal government cooperated or conspired in that carelessness. It seems I have no case against Merck in Michigan. That means I have no case against Merck period. Here is the bottom line. Our Michigan legislature has given the drug industry a license to commit murder. All they need do is trick, bribe, or con the FDA and they can pawn off poison on the public as a curative drug. Is it hard to conceal the truth with the help of the FDA? You decide. These are the people who told us drugs from Canada are dangerous and we should not buy them. Then they decided the flu vaccine from Canada is not dangerous because they could cover their bungling by using it.
While all of this stuff was going on, I visited my doctor on November 5, 2004 for my monthly blood test to check the level of Coumadin in my blood. While I was there he told me about two of his patients who were even less lucky than I. Two young men, patients of his, who were taking Vioxx had heart attacks. These young men had no history of previous problems before taking this deadly drug. My doctor was clearly distressed by this. My heart went out to him. He too was an innocent victim of Merck and the FDA.
Now, this is not the only situation wherein our government has betrayed us. Many states, including Michigan, have laws to prevent us from suing our HMO when they attempt to murder us to save money. It's another licenses to kill. Here again I have some very personal experience as do many senior citizens. I will get more into that in future essays about health care. These will also be relevant to our discussion of Groundswell and the multitudinous reason why it is necessary. If we are to protect ourselves, the citizens must unite to create ethical government and enforce ethics in business practices.
As to our legislature in Michigan, I will continue to work
for profound and far reaching changes. We must change not only
who is elected, but how they are selected. This is not just necessary
in Michigan. It is necessary at all levels of government in our
entire country. In that regard, I want this website to become
a forum for advocating the necessary change. In addition, the
major thrust of my future writing effort will be directed toward
advocating change in government at all levels. We really need
ethical people in government, The people we have now are nothing
but scoundrels.
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