Saturday, September 19, 2009

We love a good scandal as long as it's not about us

NAMI, who bills itself as the nation's voice on mental illness, offers excellent local programs in the Greater Philadelphia Area on how to handle difficult family members w/mental illness. These NAMI groups are nothing short of superb.

So it was w/deep amazement I read about the national NAMI organization and their corruption by the drug companies. Money is often hard to resist - even when you have it! hiya Bernie - and the blurring between the lines of taking money and feeling you're helping your constituents is certainly easy to understand. Here's NAMI on the take, thanks again to Gianna's blog.

Several years ago I met with a woman from the makers of Geodon who promised to take me out to lunch and donate money to New Directions if I'd promote it at our group. I ended up paying for our expensive lunch (her luggage never arrived from the plane) but I had no problem at all NOT promoting it at our group. Meds work differently on different people.

The drug rep confessed to me that she believed she had sold her soul to the devil by marketing Geodon for Pfizer. I don't remember her name but remember she had a 10-yo son named Jonathan and we ate at an outdoor cafe in downtown Philly. I ordered noodles with venison.

She told me she'd reimburse me for lunch but I told her to forget it, too much trouble. Nice woman. Agent of the devil.

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