輝瑞違法行銷 認賠23億美元和解

更新日期:2009/09/04 04:09
〔編譯張沛元／綜合二日外電報導〕全球最大藥廠輝瑞（Pfizer）二日同意支付二十三億美元（約台幣七百五十六億元）實為罰款的「和解金」，以解決該公司因違法行銷現已回收的數種處方藥遭民事與刑事控告的官司。這是美國歷來規模最大的醫療保險詐欺和解，其中十三億刑事罰款更創下新高紀錄，但這筆錢對日進斗金的輝瑞而言，只不過是三週左右的營業額。

本案攸關輝瑞非法行銷四種未經美國食品暨藥物管理局（ＦＤＡ）核准的藥物，除止痛藥Bextra外，還有抗精神病藥物Geodon，以及抗生素Zyvox與 Lyrica。當局指控，輝瑞以這四種藥物稍早獲得聯邦管理單位核准的治療以外的療效進行推銷，即使所謂的「藥品標示外使用」（off-label）並非罕見，但藥商依法不得以尚未獲得ＦＤＡ核准的使用方式來推銷藥物。

這是輝瑞二○○二年以來第四度就非法行銷官司達成和解，並不讓人意外。輝瑞在二○○四年時就對不當推銷未經核准藥物的罪名坦承不諱，今年一月也表示，將支付二十三億美元和解金。麻州聯邦檢察官路克斯說，輝瑞一犯再犯，導致當局對其祭出重罰。當局說，為推銷這些藥品，輝瑞還邀請醫師前往度假村參與諮商會議，不但費用全免，還提供高爾夫與按摩等額外服務。

和解案內容分為好幾個部分，其中一筆十一億九千五百萬美元的罰款是美國歷來最大一筆刑事罰款。儘管本案是在布希政府期間展開調查並大抵結束，但歐巴瑪政府二日仍召開記者會宣布此事，並承諾繼續努力打擊醫療保險詐欺。

看診起口角 護士傳簡訊恐嚇：走路給我小心點！

更新日期:2009/08/31 16:52 社會中心／台北報導

台北縣一名罹患肺結核的吳先生，前天(29日)帶著女友和家人到署立雙和醫院健康檢查，結果因為轉診問題和護士呂靜宜起口角，沒想到離開醫院之後，女友卻收到恐嚇簡訊。吳先生說，護士竟然看病例找到他們電話，實在太誇張。

鄭小姐握著手機到現在還不敢相信，自己和男友只不過到醫院做個健康檢查，沒想到不但個人資料外洩，還被護士傳簡訊恐嚇。

鄭小姐表示，「護士小姐就覺得我的態度不好，我們不能這樣跟她們抱怨，因為她們這麼忙了，所以她就把我男友獨立叫到角落，就說你女朋友態度很差、很欠揍。」

那天吵架的地方是在胸腔內科五診，雙方僵持不下，最後連護理長也出面緩頰；但事情還沒完，當天下午鄭小姐不但一連接到11通呂姓護士的未接來電，還有兩封恐嚇簡訊，一封寫著「你不是很帶種嗎？速回電。」另一封寫「你們太惡劣，太可惡…走路給我小心點。」嚇得她趕快報警處理。

鄭小姐說：「她(護士)跟我妹妹講她想要我的電話，然後要跟我道歉，可是其實十幾通電話跟簡訊下來，她應該是想要繼續跟我做出更大的嗆聲動作。」

護士仗著工作之便找出病歷表，偷偷記下他們的聯絡方式，又打電話、又傳簡訊實在太誇張，院方表示，呂姓護士已經被停職接受調查。不過，身為保障病人資料的醫護從業員，竟然偷看病人個資還涉嫌恐嚇，真的是自打嘴巴。(新聞來源：東森新聞記者羅欣怡、張仲華)

食指廢了？陶喆創作路受阻 怒告醫生

更新日期:2009/09/01 18:36 王詩雅

創作才子陶喆，最近一狀告上台灣的骨科名醫陳弘毅，指稱3年多前因為騎重型機車，食指粉碎性骨折，找了骨科醫師陳弘毅開刀治療，沒想到3年後陶喆的食指非但好不了，反而出現僵硬、痠痛的毛病，對創作歌手而言，這實在是非常大的打擊，所以狀告法院，要陳弘毅醫師負責。

好久不見的陶喆，最近出了新專輯密集曝光，但不再像以前，當場玩吉他、彈鋼琴，因為他的右手食指，在3年多前，騎重型機車受傷，從食指接近虎口的地方，開始腫脹、發紫，醫生檢查發現閉鎖性骨折、軟骨還斷成三塊，哪知道一開刀，留下痠痛，甚至僵硬、不靈活的後遺症。

陶喆上個月決定控告醫師，但正值發片，告人的時候，難免讓人有其他聯想。經紀人王立德：「我相信他一定是忍忍忍，忍不住了吧，他才會去做這樣(提告)，不然沒事找事幹嘛，你目視你都可以看得出來，他那一邊他的右手跟左手是不一樣的。」

我們也發現陶喆拿麥克風，習慣手指併攏，但車禍之後，尤其是開刀前後那一陣子，食指還會腫，只好微微彎曲，減輕痛感；據報導，陶喆嫌醫師當初的鋼釘打太長，害食指變成往後創作的拌腳石，但主刀醫師本人不出面回應。

台北市立聯合醫院醫務長楊文理：「他是很好的醫生，醫術也很高明，也獲得很多民眾的好評，我們尊重司法。」

陳弘毅是名醫，但91年曾因動頸椎手術把病人醫到失明，最近還涉嫌浮報400萬健保費，剛交保候傳，但這宗3年前的醫療糾紛，卻在3年後的發片宣傳期告上法庭，醫師、歌手都沒出面，但時機卻巧得很難不讓人引發聯想。

前立委林惠官凌晨病逝台大醫院

2009-08-26
新聞速報 【中央社】

前親民黨籍立法委員、並於今年 5月中宣布爭取國民黨年底連江縣長選舉提名的林惠官，今天凌晨 6時55分病逝台大醫院。連江縣長陳雪生及林惠官在馬祖好友們聞訊都感到難過與惋惜。

　林惠官出生於民國46年，馬祖莒光鄉人，畢業於台北工專，曾任中華民國全國總工會理事長及親民黨籍不分區立法委員。

　林惠官是於今年 7月中進行頸椎手術，手術後並透過馬祖當地媒體表示情況良好，並預定 2週後出院；不料，手術後併發感染和敗血症，轉往台大醫院治療。家屬今天上午緊急以書面對外宣布此一不幸消息。

　林惠官現任馬祖酒廠董事長，今年 5月16日在陳雪生及連江縣議會議長陳振清等好友陪同下，前往國民黨連江縣黨部登記參選連江縣縣長黨內初選。對於林惠官驟逝，馬祖鄉親聞訊都感到震驚。980826

幼童病逝家屬抗議 秀傳醫院強調沒疏失

2009-08-26
新聞速報
【中廣新聞／李河錫】
彰化發生第一起新流感死亡病例，不幸病逝男童家屬今天再度會同兩百多位親友，高舉白布條、沿路灑冥紙前往彰化秀傳總院抗議，質疑院方誤判病情、延誤醫療又隱匿疫情！院方強調沒有疏失，已善盡治療與轉診之責﹔全案由縣府衛生局介入調查中。

新流感疫情來勢洶洶，一週內國內就發生三起不幸死亡病例，重症病例也持續增加﹔其中彰化第一起不幸感染新流感死亡的六歲幼童，其家屬因高度質疑負責收治的彰化秀傳醫院誤判病情、延誤醫療又蓄意對家長隱匿疫情！對要求轉院還一再推託，二十六號再度邀集兩百多位鄉親朋友高舉白布條、沿路灑冥紙前往彰化秀傳總院高聲抗議。

秀傳醫院小兒科主任則出面表示，因當初還沒有快速篩檢機制，才無法立即判定感染新流感﹔因此從受治到轉診約一個禮拜期間，都沒有使用過克流感，但院方還是強調，已善盡治療與轉診之責，並沒有疏失。

而家屬則抨擊院方的解釋，與疾管局指示克流感使用時機有相當大的落差，即使是類流感重症早也應該使用克流感，因此更加悲憤指控院方說謊、推託，要求疾管局應派員調查，不要讓他可愛活潑的孩子枉死，他們不要錢、只是要個道歉與公道。

90 degree coccyx

More than 500 Feared Dead in Taiwan

Government says 15,000 Rescued from Villages Buried in Mud after Devastating Typhoon Morakot


(CBS/AP) Barefoot and helmeted, the frightened survivors of deadly Typhoon Morakot dangled high over jagged rocks and a raging river as soldiers hauled them to safety one by one along a 100-foot-long cable.

On the far side, a few dozen waited near a hand-painted sign on the craggy foundation of a destroyed bridge: "32 people died here SOS."

The perilous rescue was part of a massive military effort to save hundreds of stranded villagers after the worst flooding to hit Taiwan in 50 years. Some 15,000 villagers have been rescued since the typhoon struck five days ago; hundreds more are feared missing or dead.

Scores of villages in the rural south of Taiwan were devastated by the typhoon. One of the worst affected is Shiao Lin, where authorities estimated 400 people died in a catastrophic mudslide spawned by days of torrential rain.

As criticism mounted Thursday over Taiwan's response to the disaster, the government dispatched another 4,000 troops to work with the 14,000 already deployed. Many of them are working in Kaohsiung County, a mountainous farming region in southern Taiwan.

The rugged terrain and widespread devastation played havoc with rescue efforts following the storm, which dumped 80 inches of rain on the island over the weekend.

Soldiers in fatigues and heavy gloves resorted to using a makeshift zipline to haul survivors from the village of Sinkai over the Ba Si Lan River where the bridge was wiped out. For hours they labored, rescuing everyone from a young boy in shorts to an elderly woman who brought along a couple of shopping bags worth of belongings.

Unbuckled from their harnesses, villagers looked dazed and frightened as they recalled the harrowing night of Aug. 8.

"It rained for days," said Li Wen-chuan, a grizzled-looking man of 68 with sparse salt-and-pepper hair, teeth stained red by years of betel nut chewing. "But the flood came so suddenly and with a tremendous roar. It destroyed everything in the village."

"This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me," he said, adding that many of the 32 who died in village were friends and family. "My life will never be the same."

Pan Yi-chang, a 32-year-old mother of two, said that when the rains spawned by Morakot began to fall, she had no inkling that this typhoon would be any different from others.

The ravaged villages - most of them scattered in neighboring townships in northern Kaohsiung County - are typically located next to mountains, and they usually have to brace for mudslides during Taiwan's annual typhoon season during June to September.

But this time was different, residents said.

"Everything happened so fast. Flooding just destroyed everything," said Pan, adding that she was lucky because all of her family survived - her husband, her two children and her mother and father.

As she spoke, Pan gazed longingly across the river toward the only home she has ever known, a close-knit community of 1,000 whose economy is based on growing mangos and guavas.

In the background, a heavy mist enveloped the summit of a nearby mountain and torrents of water cascaded down its dark green facades.

Taiwan's official death toll from the storm now stands at 116, with another 59 listed as missing. That does not include the toll in Shiao Lin and other remote communities. Taiwan's Disaster Relief Center estimated Friday that as many as 400 people were buried at Shiao Lin.

Many of those rescued say they can never return to their villages because there is nothing left to return to.

Li, the grizzled veteran of Sinkai, is not one of them.

"I am going back," he said. "Sinkai is where my roots are. I have no other place to go."

Many complained that the government was too slow to mobilize the rescue and cleanup effort, saying more victims could have been saved if they had moved sooner and faster.

"Why does the government say only useless things?" a woman eager to learn the fate of relatives trapped in Kaochung village in the south asked. With tears filling her eyes, she told TV reporters: "I've been waiting for several days, yet there has not been anyone going to rescue my family."

In a short interview with CNN, President Ma Ying-jeou blamed the severe damage brought by the flooding on villagers' inability to get out of their communities before the storm.

Authorities in Kaohsiung County did ask inhabitants from the villages most severely battered by Morakot to leave before the storm, but they did not try to forcibly remove the residents, and some villagers decided against leaving.

"They were not fully prepared. If they were, they should have been evacuated much earlier," Ma said. "They didn't realize how serious the disaster was."

Ma did not comment on whether the government was doing enough to help with the evacuation.

Troops were working Thursday to restore severed roads, rehabilitate ravaged neighborhood and ferry typhoon victims to safety in dozens of helicopter missions.

So far some 15,400 villagers have been rescued - including 2,200 on Thursday, the island's disaster relief center said. Another 1,900 villagers were staying either in open fields or on higher ground and waiting to be taken to shelters, it said. Several hundred more - no one is sure how many - remain unaccounted for and are feared lost in the mudslides.

? MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.