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NEWS ... GLOBAL NEWS ... for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles | THE TEN WORST CORPORATIONS OF 2003 used on construction sites. But remote by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman © 2004 immobilisation technology will soon start ere follows, in alphabetical order, the Multinational Monitor list of the 10 worst to trickle down to ordinary cars, and should Horrporations of 2003 canara ne ve hit two months . Bayer: In May, the company agreed to plead guilty to a criminal count and pay more than in the » fear of htigation is discour- US$250 million to resolve allegations that it denied Medicaid discounts to which it was enti- aging the whole idea of using remote tled. The company was beleaguered with litigation over its anticholesterol drug, Baycol. immobilisers: no one wants to be responsi- Bayer pulled the drug—linked to a sometimes fatal muscle disorder—from the market, but is le for, say, blocking ambulance access. facing thousands of lawsuits from patients who allege they were harmed by the drug. _ Police in the UK would like to see cars Boeing: In one of the grandest schemes of corporate welfare in recent memory, Boeing itted with immobilisers that could be acti- | engineered a deal whereby the Pentagon would lease tanker planes—767s that refuel fighter vated while the thief is driving along. planes in the air—from Boeing. The price tag of US$27.6 billion was billions more than the They argue this would enhance road safety _| cost of simply buying the planes. The deal may unravel, though, because the company fired y putting an end to high-speed car chases. or wrongdoing both the employee who negotiated the contract for Boeing (the company's (Source: New Scientist, vol. 181, no. 2435, | chief financial officer) and the employee who negotiated the contract for the government. 21 February 2004) How could Boeing fire a Pentagon employee? Simple. She was no longer a Pentagon employee. Boeing had hired her shortly after the company clinched the deal. WRONG DIAGNOSES ARE Brighthouse: A new-agey advertising/consulting/strategic-advice company, Brighthouse KILLING PATIENTS as a claim to infamy with its Neurostrategies Institute. In a cutting-edge effort to extend and any patients in intensive care units | sharpen commercial reach in ways never before possible, the Institute is using MRI to monitor are being wrongly diagnosed, accord- _| brain activity and response triggered by advertisements and advertising campaigns. ing to a study in a UK hospital. Some are Clear Channel: The radio behemoth Clear Channel specialises in consuming or squashing dying because doctors fail to spot major locally owned radio stations, imposing an homogenised music playlist on once-interesting sta- conditions such as heart attack, cancer and _| tions and offering cultural support for US imperial adventures. It has a record of violating the pulmonary embolism. The reason, experts jaw—including prohibitions on deceptive advertising and broadcasting conversations without say, is not incompetence but that so few _| Obtaining permission of the second party to the conversation—on 36 separate occasions over the previous three years. Diebold: An Ohio-based company that is one of the largest US manufacturers of electronic voting machines as well as an aggressive peddler of these machines, Diebold has managed to demonstrate that it fails any reasonable test of qualifications for involvement with the voting process. Its CEO has worked as a major fundraiser for President George W. Bush. Computer experts revealed serious flaws in its voting technology, and activists showed how careless it was with confidential information. Diebold threatened lawsuits against activists who pub- lished on the Internet company documents showing its failures. Halliburton: The company which initially drafted plans for privatisation of US military : a. . functions during the Bush I administration—when current Vice President and former The problem is not limited to one hospi- Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense—is pulling in billions of dollars in tal or to the UK. Gao Smith says her find- | revenue from contract work—providing logistical support ranging from oil to food—in Iraq. ings are consistent with other studies done | Tens of millions, at least, appear to be overcharges. Some analysts say Halliburton's charges in Europe and the US. She thinks doctors | for oil provision amount to "highway robbery". place too much faith in sophisticated scan- HealthSouth: Fifteen of its top executives have pleaded guilty in connection with a ners when making diagnoses and are fail- _| multibillion-dollar scheme to defraud investors, the public and the US government about the ing to learn from their mistakes because | company's financial condition. It appears that HealthSouth itself will get off scot free—no fewer and fewer autopsies are being done, _ | indictments, no pleas, no fines, no probation. both in the UK and the US. "If we did Inamed: The California-based company sought Food and Drug Administration approval more post-mortems, it might be possible to __| for silicone breast implants, even though it was not able to present long-term safety data—the save more people in the future," Gao Smith __| very thing that led the FDA to restrict sales of silicone implants a decade ago. In January says. The decline needs to be reversed as a__| 2004, the FDA denied Inamed's application for marketing approval. matter of urgency, she says. Merrill Lynch: Fresh off a US$100 million fine levied because analysts were The study also raises the question of how _ | recommending stocks that they trashed in private emails, the company saw three former many other patients are being executives indicted for shady dealings with Enron. Merrill Lynch itself managed to escape misdiagnosed. Gao Smith says the _ | with something less than a slap on the wrist—no prosecution in exchange for "oversight". frequent misdiagnoses in intensive care Safeway: One of the largest US grocery chains, Safeway is leading the charge to demand units should set alarm bells ringing in other give-backs from striking and locked-out grocery workers in southern California. Along with areas of medicine. "It's not always possible Albertsons and Ralphs (Kroger's), Safeway's Vons and Pavilion stores are asking employees to start paying for a major chunk of their health insurance. Under the company's proposals, workers and their families will each lose US$4,000 to $6,000 a year in health benefits. post-mortems are now performed that doc- tors cannot learn from their mistakes. Fang Gao Smith, a consultant in inten- sive care medicine at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, and her team checked the accuracy of diagnoses by comparing post-mortem results with patients’ medical records. In 39 per cent of cases, they found major problems had been missed. to talk to intensive care patients. But they are also scrutinised and monitored more than any other patients, so I'm not sure we | (Source: Authors’ article posted 5 February 2004 at http:/Nists.essential.org/pipermail/ can say that they are more likely to suffer | corpfocus/2004/000173.himl. Russell Mokhiber edits the Washington, DC-based Corporate misdiagnosis." Crime Reporter, http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com; Robert Weissman edits the (Source: New Scientist, 21 February 2004) Washington, DC-based Multinational Monitor, http:/Avww.multinationalmonitor.org) for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilisation technology will soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and should e available in the UK in two months. In the USA, fear of litigation is discour- aging the whole idea of using remote immobilisers: no one wants to be responsi- le for, say, blocking ambulance acce Police in the UK would like to see cars itted with immobilisers that could be acti- vated while the thief is driving along. They argue this would enhance road safety y putting an end to high-speed car chases. (Source: New Scientist, vol. 181, no. 2435, 21 February 2004) WRONG DIAGNOSES ARE KILLING PATIENTS any patients in intensive care units are being wrongly diagnosed, accord- ing to a study in a UK hospital. Some are dying because doctors fail to spot major conditions such as heart attack, cancer and pulmonary embolism. The reason, experts say, is not incompetence but that so few post-mortems are now performed that doc- tors cannot learn from their mistakes. Fang Gao Smith, a consultant in inten- sive care medicine at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, and her team checked the accuracy of diagnoses by comparing post-mortem results with patients’ medical records. In 39 per cent of cases, they found major problems had been missed. The problem is not limited to one hospi- tal or to the UK. Gao Smith says her find- ings are consistent with other studies done in Europe and the US. She thinks doctors place too much faith in sophisticated scan- ners when making diagnoses and are fail- ing to learn from their mistakes because fewer and fewer autopsies are being done, both in the UK and the US. "If we did more post-mortems, it might be possible to save more people in the future," Gao Smith says. The decline needs to be reversed as a matter of urgency, she says. The study also raises the question of how many other patients are being misdiagnosed. Gao Smith says the frequent misdiagnoses in intensive care units should set alarm bells ringing in other areas of medicine. "It's not always possible to talk to intensive care patients. But they are also scrutinised and monitored more than any other patients, so I'm not sure we can say that they are more likely to suffer misdiagnosis." (Source: New Scientist, 21 February 2004) APRIL — MAY 2004 NEXUS +9 www.nexusmagazine.com