When sweet dreams become nightmares (Musings on health officials & Big Pharma)

Updated 17 Sept. 2012

August's blog is stimulated by disappointment, even disgust, with those associated with health care who turn out to be dishonorable, i.e., liars and thieves who put their welfare above those they serve.

Would be nice to write a cheery, upbeat theme for the dog-days of summer (in northern hemisphere), but recent news items are enough to make me, and I'd guess most readers, gag.

Regardless of your location, the blog has much food for thought because the issues are global. Honest, you could not make this crappy behavior up.

The title comes from a song by Annie Lennox, a Scottish singer-songwriter and political activist.

ALBERTA, CANADA
These events happened in my backyard but I know it could happen where you live and probably has.

The gist of this sad tale is that Allaudin Merali, hired by Alberta's provincial health system (AHS) as CFO in May 2012 at a salary of $425,000, resigned in July after a CBC reporter broke the story of his exorbitant expense claims ($346,208).

The expenses occurred during his previous employment with Capital Health (before AHS was created) as its CFO (Jan. 2005 - Aug. 2008). For interest, a CFO's responsibilities.

Is Merali an outlier? I suspect not. This type of abuse had to be normal for the health system or it would have been flagged and stopped.

The health region's CEO kept signing off, and who knows for how many others pigs at the trough. You know, all the senior political cronies (oink! oink!) our provincial government appointed to make decisions for us, invariably with minimal or no input from health professionals in the trenches.

To think that my colleagues and I would never include liquor in our expenses (makes sense as it's discretionary spending and not allowed). We'd fly the cheapest airfare, as required, despite inconvenient schedules like red eye flights. Being good employees with integrity, we'd meticulously  use time-inefficient airport shuttle buses so as to keep our expenses minimal in the interest of fairness to those paying.

Not this Merali dude, though. And to top it off, after losing his job in 2008 (when Alberta's health system was reorganized), he received $1 million in severance and a $1.6 million retirement plan over 10 years ($13,303/mth).

17 Sept. 2012: AHS chair whines on cost of audit & info requests into executive expenses (Ya gotta love these guys)

Pretty sweet, eh? (Said the Canuck with a grimace, not a smile.)

GRUESOME DETAILS
News items:

• One place spending wasn't cut (Background on expense scandal)
• Merali resigns after prior expense claims revealed 
• Alberta Treasury Board knew of Ontario controversy surrounding Merali before offering job 
• Former Capital Health CEO Weatherill, who approved Merali expenses, resigns
• Health executives, including former CFO with outrageous expenses, get gold-plated pensions
• Merali's expense claims (obtained by CBC reporter) 

Fascinating stuff. Many routine charges (e.g., conference registration), but who knew the nobs also charge for booze? Fact is, Merali, earning a substantial salary, charged for everything. I bet if he bought a small packet of kleenex or gum drops at the airport he'd have charged them. 

BOTTOM LINE
It's a saga of greed and privilege rampant at the highest levels of a health care system. Leaders are supposed to model expected behavior and instill confidence in a shared vision to benefit all. Gak!

The behavior of this particular Alberta health official falls so short. But he cannot have been alone. If you or I behaved as Merali did (and who knows who else at the top did), we would not, indeed could not, get away with it. Adding to the odious conduct, the situation indicates a double standard that undermines the entire system.

At the same time as Merali was at the trough, Alberta's health professionals struggled to do more with less, as did the entire health care system (too few staff, too few beds, too few long-term care facilities, etc.)

During this time (2005-8), when lunching at a nearby hospital I'd occasionally talk to laboratory technologists who were former students. When asked how things were going, they'd invariably reply anything from not good to brutal.

My next question was, "What's the main issue?" The reply was always a variation of, "Too few staff." So few, that existing staff could not take holidays as there was no funding for part-time or casual staff, even if suitable replacements existed.

Once a PhD lab director stopped by and looked positively ashen. In conversation he noted that what was happening (Alberta's restructuring from multiple health entities to one) was even worse than the 1990s when cost cutbacks were severe and uncertainlty reigned:

• History written at the time (ignore links to news items as they're likely inactive) 

One lab technologist told me that they had a gag order not to talk to outsiders on threat of firing. If Alberta's physicians were bullied, you can bet everyone in the system was.

Charming. What a way to run a health system.

As cost restraints prevailed in the trenches, Merali (and who knows which other senior health officials) was living the high life at tax payers expense. Dining at the most expensive restaurants, getting a phone installed in his Mercedes (Who does this in the age of cell phones?), repairing his Mercedes. It must have been hard to rack up almost $350,000 in expenses over 3 1/2 years.

Is this narrative unique to Alberta, Canada? I doubt it. My take is that it's happening somewhere near you, but you may not know about it yet or ever, unless you have professional reporters who can investigate.

And we know what's happened to real reporters in print journalism in the Internet era. Sites that compile news have gutted the system and users expect news and everything else on the Net to be free.

BIG PHARMA
Big Pharma presents a similar tale of corruption, indeed a worse one. Seems reports of bribery and putting corporate benefit above vulnerable patients never stop.

• GlaxoSmithKline pleads guilty in $3B US drug fraud case

GSK admitted misbranding 2 drugs and withholding safety data for another:

GSK had total disregard for the health of vulnerable people they were supposedly helping - knowing their actions could cause harm, but doing it anyway for self-advantage.
If I did that as a health care professional, I'd be guilty of criminal negligence.

• Pfizer settles bribery charges (11 Aug. 2012) 

With USA regulators clamping down, drug firms seem to have stopped (I say seem because who knows) perks for doctors and similar bribery. But not so in developing countries.

Pfizer's conduct seems to be normal for Big Pharma. 8 of the 10 biggest firms on the planet mention costs for corruption charges as a risk.

Big Pharma's behavior is similar to tobacco firms selling cheap disease-causing cigarettes in developing countries, not caring about those who die. With a decrease in sales in industrialized nations, multi-national companies in the UK and USA decided to spread smoking to developing countries:

• Tobacco and the developing world
• Unstoppable march of the tobacco giants 

Or take the case of our Canadian government (the Harper government as they like to be called), which for a few jobs in Quebec in the asbestos industry, refuses to support a global ban on the well documented killer, asbestos:

• Health Canada's advice on asbestos ban rejected by Harper government

Shameful. Disgusting. Sickening. Criminal. Tobacco companies, Canada's Harper government, and drug companies  - all behave similarly.

MUSINGS
The spectre of senior health officials in my province and their culture of privilege is one thing. I expect it's the same whether in countries with national health care systems (most of the world) or the USA, where private health competitors do whatever it takes to survive and make profits.

What also gets me is that I know several industry reps who are decent individuals. It's hard to think that they work in an environment where bribery and lying are normal. But to think otherwise would be naive. Sadly, evidence to the contrary abounds.

When first entering the health professional many years ago, I had dreams of helping others and being one of the good guys. Definitely a profession that was a notch above used car salesmen, who had a well deserved reputation for lying and cheating customers. But I've learned that health care is also a business, and a nasty, nightmarish  one.

What to do? Focus on the positive in daily work, shine a light on the rats among us, and hold those who tarnish the field to account, a lifelong challenge. Or say nothing, do nothing, be nothing?

FOR FUN
Can there be any fun after such all too real events? Of course. First, a great song that outlines the reality described above:

• Sweet dreams (Annie Lennox) Some of them want to use you...Some of them want to abuse you...

Next, a slightly sappy 1960s ditty that expresses what we hope for all those involved:

• Who's sorry now (Connie Francis)

Lastly, to end on a positive note, and just because I love the song and its fabulous artist appears at the Edmonton Folk Festival this weekend:

• Are you ready for the thing called love (Bonnie Raitt) 

As usual, the views are mine alone. Comments are most welcome BUT, due to excessive spam,  please e-mail me personally or use the address in the newsletter notice.  Great comments below - be sure to read them.