Private companies have one aim: profit maximisation.
“The multi-billion pound pharmaceutical industry has spent the last decade developing new drugs which have produced little benefit and caused considerable harm, experts say today.
The claim that there is an "innovation crisis" in pharmaceuticals because of the difficulty and expense of discovering new drugs is a myth fostered by an industry whose chief focus is on marketing, they add…"This is the real innovation crisis: pharmaceutical research and development turns out mostly minor variations on existing drugs and most new drugs are not superior on clinical measures. [They] have also produced an epidemic of serious adverse reactions that have added to national healthcare costs," they say.
More is spent on marketing (25 per cent of revenues) than on discovering new molecules (1.3 per cent). Drug industry claims that the cost of bringing a new drug to market is £1bn and is unsustainable are exaggerated, they claim. Research and development costs did rise substantially between 1995 and 2010 by $34.2bn (£21.9bn), they concluded, but revenues increased six times faster – by $200.4bn.”…
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Drugs companies putting profit ahead of medical discoveries, warn scientists
Private hospital patients were 'routinely abused'
“Vulnerable patients with learning disabilities were subjected to years of dangerous restraints, gratuitous violence and torment by ‘care staff’ at a private hospital obsessed with making money, as blindingly obvious signs of systematic abuse were ignored by the authorities…
The dangers of institutional care are highlighted in the damning report which warns that the hundreds of people with learning disabilities and autism still living in such outdated places are at high risk of similar abuse and prison-like conditions. These institutions, which should not exist in the 21st century, should be subjected to intense and regular scrutiny by regulators rather than the light-touch regulation which failed, said the independent experts…
In 2010 Winterbourne View near Bristol had an annual turnover of £3.7million, as Castlebeck charged the NHS on average £3,500 per week per person. But high sickness rates and a high staff turnover rate meant the hospital was largely run by untrained, unregulated support workers with little or no senior supervision or management.
The vulnerable residents, who were miles away from home and their families supposedly for assessment or rehabilitation, suffered broken bones, had their teeth knocked out, faces punched, hair pulled, and fingers bent backwards. Distressed patients were physically and chemically restrained by staff who abused them for kicks and had no understanding about their physical or psychological needs.”…
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