A study conducted at Harvard University found that people who become informants of the U.S. government in health care fraud against the pharmaceutical companies, informants could receive financial rewards, but they suffer sever difficulties.
In fact, 82% of the 22 interviewed informants said that they had been subjected to various pressures from companies in response to their complaints and at least eight insiders said the financial consequences were "disastrous." One of them said: "I just could not get a job. I had to sell his house and I went under financially. Then it becomes really difficult ... I've lost everything, absolutely everything. "
"Whistle-blowers need more support in the process of bringing it forward," Dr. Aaron Kesselheim of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston said in a telephone interview.
The study gives an idea of what happens when the whistle-blowers to sue the company under "Qui Tam" lawsuit, in which the individual goes to court and the federal government intervene if it finds evidence of illegal activity. The study said that the six insiders reported divorces, severe marital stress, or other family disputes at this time. Half of the respondents reported stress-related health problems, including shingles, psoriasis, autoimmune disorders, panic attacks, asthma, insomnia, migraine and generalized anxiety.
Kesselheim and his colleagues studied 17 cases of pharmaceutical whistle-blowing in 2001. The largest in the last year of $ 1.4 billion settlement in which Eli Lilly and Co. (LLY.N) was accused of improperly marketing its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa for children and elderly patients, as well as failure to provide information about the side effects of the drug.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this study was that the majority of informants to obtain money and the researchers found that there was no money motivation. Whistleblowers receive a share of the financial recoveries resulting from prosecutions and settlements. "They seemed to want to be right is not so, or to shed light on what was ethically compromised", Kesselheim said. Money was no motivation.
Informants typically found illegal practices, when they moved into a new company, or when they were promoted to new positions. Most tried to stop the practice, talking to the boss or a complaint. They often say just follow orders.
The study, described in a special report published in the May 13 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, provides what may be the first reliable data on the experiences of those involved in a lawsuit under the federal false claims law.
In fact, 82% of the 22 interviewed informants said that they had been subjected to various pressures from companies in response to their complaints and at least eight insiders said the financial consequences were "disastrous." One of them said: "I just could not get a job. I had to sell his house and I went under financially. Then it becomes really difficult ... I've lost everything, absolutely everything. "
"Whistle-blowers need more support in the process of bringing it forward," Dr. Aaron Kesselheim of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston said in a telephone interview.
The study gives an idea of what happens when the whistle-blowers to sue the company under "Qui Tam" lawsuit, in which the individual goes to court and the federal government intervene if it finds evidence of illegal activity. The study said that the six insiders reported divorces, severe marital stress, or other family disputes at this time. Half of the respondents reported stress-related health problems, including shingles, psoriasis, autoimmune disorders, panic attacks, asthma, insomnia, migraine and generalized anxiety.
Kesselheim and his colleagues studied 17 cases of pharmaceutical whistle-blowing in 2001. The largest in the last year of $ 1.4 billion settlement in which Eli Lilly and Co. (LLY.N) was accused of improperly marketing its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa for children and elderly patients, as well as failure to provide information about the side effects of the drug.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this study was that the majority of informants to obtain money and the researchers found that there was no money motivation. Whistleblowers receive a share of the financial recoveries resulting from prosecutions and settlements. "They seemed to want to be right is not so, or to shed light on what was ethically compromised", Kesselheim said. Money was no motivation.
Informants typically found illegal practices, when they moved into a new company, or when they were promoted to new positions. Most tried to stop the practice, talking to the boss or a complaint. They often say just follow orders.
The study, described in a special report published in the May 13 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, provides what may be the first reliable data on the experiences of those involved in a lawsuit under the federal false claims law.
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