Drugs and Responsibility

Let me say first off that I really don't like the practices of the drug companies. I really don't like these companies selling their products at a higher price to US residents and less to those in other countries. There can be many reasons for this, but I don't think that it can be explained completely other than because they get more money out of the people in the US.

While sometimes there are drug companies who want to push their products when they know that there is a problem with them so that they can get back some of their money, I doubt that this is the typical practice since sooner or later it would come out and they could face some serious charges. The drug companies are under pressure to provide the drugs to people who need them. It is quite interesting that people seem to want to drugs without delay and complete testing (assuming that you can completely test anything). Then after all the required testing, the drug is released and people take it. Since it is not possible to know all of the reactions, sometimes some people have some problems with the drugs. The drug company may decide to pull a drug because too many problems, which they had no idea that such problems would occur, and then people decide to sue them. Maybe it is just a desire to blame someone and get some money, but when you look at the warning sheets you have to wonder why anyone would take the drugs unless they had no choice.

Some of the pressures place the drug companies is an interesting position. People want the drugs right away to deal with issues that there is no other choice or one which they think will not work as well, but then that put the drug company is a bad position due to not doing as much testing as might be best. I think that some people are so desparate that they would take anything which might help them, which I can understand if your life is on the line. The question is whether the drug company can be held responsible if there are problems which arise.

I hear ads which say the limitations in which people should not take the drugs. Perhaps it is just me, but when it says that people with liver problems should not take a drug, I don't want to take it because I don't want to have liver problems. Then you look at all the negative problems that could occur, one has to wonder what is going on. Maybe most people don't read the warning sheets so that they don't honestly know what can occur, but then shouldn't they be the ones responsible when something goes wrong? Even if problems are not listed, at what point does a person taking a drug become responsible for their own actions?

The lawyers are fast on filing a lawsuit, since typically they are the ones who really profit. People are quick to blame others, especially when they think that they can get some money out of it. But it seems that people refuse to take responsibility for any of their own actions. I feel sorry for those people who are harmed, but that does not mean that you can place all of the blame on the companies instead of the person.

The bottom line is that each person has a choice as to whether to take a drug and unless it can be shown that the drug companies are hiding negative information about the drug, including refusing to do testing which should be done, the person taking the drug is responsible for their decision to take the drug. The drug companies should not act in bad faith, but neither should the person taking the drug.