Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Shocking evidence that those doctors that protect us are actually on-the-take has broken across the country, with the center of the investigation at the prestigious Harvard school where the Harvard Medical Journal is published.
Often, ivy-league schools such as Harvard run testing and medical trials on prescription drugs before they are released to the public or FDA for testing. This has always been a sacred cow and thought to be above refute, until three psychiatrists went under investigation at Harvard for allegedly receiving much more money from drug firms and not reporting their income accurately.
The psychiatrists in question were working on testing anti-psychotic medications on children, and the honor system that researchers work off was brought into question. If the Harvard Medical Journal is not a report that can be trusted, long seen as a standard of integrity, the question of what can be trusted is brought to light; no one is above being paid off by big pharmaceutical agencies.
Between the years 2000 and 2007, over 1.6 million dollars was received by two separate researchers at Harvard. The third psychiatrist at Harvard received over a million.
The senate has written a bill that would force doctors to receive no more than $500 per year without reporting, accurately and with the threat of law, for handling drug testing from drug companies. The shockwave created by this incident will be felt for years to come, and brings us to wonder what drugs have been given an OK by independent researchers only because they were receiving unusually large payments from the drug manufacturers.
Is nothing sacred anymore? Certainly not the image of Harvard research.
“What makes this case particularly troublesome is that the Harvard group’s research has helped fuel an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic drugs to treat children, as was described in The Times on Sunday by Gardiner Harris and Benedict Carey. Although supporters praise the most prominent of the trio, Dr. Joseph Biederman, as a visionary who has saved many lives, critics complain that the Harvard studies have been too small and loosely designed to provide conclusive results. Critics say they also were subject to biased interpretation through use of a subjective rating scale.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10tue2.html?ref=opinion
Source: New York Times
Posted in Medical Malpractice | No Comments »
Saturday, May 17th, 2008
Deadly diet medication Fen-phen lawsuits have been ongoing for over 7 years was initially thought to have settled for 60 million USD. However, recent information shows that lawyers for the plantiffs in this legal action may have pocketed in excess of 150 million dollars.
A federal action has been filed against Melbourne Mills Jr., Shirley Allen Cunningham Jr. and William Gallion and the lawyers for those affected by Fen-Phen may be facing 20 years of federal prison time for fraud.
The original $50 million dollar settlement called for the 440 plantiffs to receive the following:
…about $500 in reimbursement for drug costs; a free echocardiogram; and either $6,000 in cash or $10,000 worth of medical follow-up…
However, according to court documents, one plantiff received over $600,000 in a cash settlement for opting out of the class-action case. The testifying of one of the under-attorneys in the case suggested that all plantiffs received considerably more than the original amount, but still far short of the $200 million that was given by the court-ordered class-action settlement.
This is the type of case that, unfortunately, leads to tort reform that hurts people involved in drug lawsuits. However, it will play out in the court system and the eventual findings and sentencing should set the record straight.
http://www.kentucky.com/779/story/407547.html
Source: Lexington Herald
Posted in Class Action Lawsuits, Fraud, Prescription Drug Lawsuits | No Comments »
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
Imagine this: A beautiful wedding with cake, flowers, photos and guests provided by a company that sets everything up for you. Now, imagine it’s all part of an elaborate immigration fraud ring. This is the case in an FBI sting operation that nailed over 80 people in Florida.
Four companies specializing in international matchmaking and marriages were followed closely by the FBI and eventually busted. The companies included All Kind Services, A-3 Services, American Solutions & Services and Power of Attorney.
The company would receive $10,000 USD and offer US citizens $2,500 to serve as either a bride or groom. The company would then coach immigrants and citizens on how to pass the immigration questions, all leading to eventual green cards for residency based on a total fraud.
What’s laughable is that there was even a fake wedding cake made of cardboard and silicone to help perpetuate the fraud of marriage. More arrests are expected in this case, and lawsuits from the American citizens involved in this scam could start cropping up any day now.
“What we’ve seen in the past generally is that a person will meet someone, that person might be desperate for some money, willingly engage in a sham marriage and then they go their own ways,” O’Neill said. “Here, you can see this was much more sophisticated. They incorporated businesses, they obviously sought out people, people came in.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/09/marriage.fraud.ap/
Source: CNN.com
Posted in Fraud, Immigration Fraud | No Comments »
Monday, May 5th, 2008
After months of legal wrangling, the defense contracting company Herley pled guilty to two counts of financial impropriety and agreed to pay the Federal Government 9.5 million USD to settle a civil lawsuit.
Once the company agreed to pay 6MM in penalties and 3.5MM in fine, the government not only dropped over 30 other counts against the company but also withdrew its lawsuit against them.
Herley was accused of making false and fraudulent statements that misled government industries into overpaying for their defense contractor services. News of the settlement drew sharp criticism from those in the industry, but the stock market applauded and sent Herley stock soaring up 20% on Monday.
http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/article.asp?aID=66005
Source: Central Penn Business Journal
Posted in Civil Lawsuits, Financial Fraud | No Comments »
Subscribe to our daily news feed