SURVIVAL OF A WHISTLEBLOWER

To be a whistleblower is not easy. Particularly not in healthcare, which is riddled with financial conflicts of interest, corruption, political ambitions about becoming re-elected by promising people screenings that do more harm than good, and personal hobby horses.

Part of big pharma’s business model is organized crime, which envolves fraud, both in research and marketing. Our prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death, after heart disease and cancer, and I have estimated, based on the best research I could find, that psychiatric drugs alone are also the third leading cause of death. Yet, hardly anyone raises an eyebrow; in fact, we irrigate whole populations with psychiatric drugs as if they were mental fertilizers.

Most whistleblowers suffer a terrible fate. Peter Rost has described how things went for 233 people who blew the whistle on fraud: 90% were fired or demoted, 27% faced lawsuits, 26% had to seek psychiatric or physical care, 25% suffered alcohol abuse, 17% lost their homes, 15% got divorced, 10% attempted suicide and 8% went bankrupt. But in spite of all this, only 16% said that they wouldn’t blow the whistle again. I shall try to explain how it was possible for me to blow the whistle for 30 years and yet still have a highly rewarding career.

PETER C. GØTZSCHE Professor Peter C. Gøtzsche graduated as a Master of Science in Biology and Chemistry in 1974 and as a Physician 1984. He is a specialist in internal medicine; worked with clinical trials and regulatory affairs in the drug industry 1975-1983, and at hospitals in Copenhagen 1984-95. SUMMER INSTITUTE

The 2018 Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality took place on June 19 – 27, 2018, at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany.