What do you get when you combine greed, a bad economy, soaring health care and drug costs, and the power of the Internet?
Well, locally, you get a Camano Island man indicted on several federal charges, accused of stealing more than $360,000 worth of insulin and diabetic supplies from Providence Regional Medical Center Everett and selling them online, as The Herald reported Nov. 21.
Investigators say Michael Ralph Worley, 43, was a pharmacy technician at the hospital’s Pacific campus when he stole the medicine and supplies and sold them on eBay.
After those initial sales, Worley was contacted by a Florida man, Donald Alan Pepin, wh wanted to buy directly, according to the U.S. Attorney’s indictment. Investigators say Pepin, who also faces federal charges, sold the insulin to other small drug distributors and pharmacies through his business, First Medical Resources, Inc. The insulin was not refrigerated during shipping or storing, making it unsafe for use. Good thing it was only going from Washington to Florida.
Pepin allegedly sent Worley lists of the products he wanted and the prices he was willing to pay, which were just a fraction of the wholesale costs. Over the course of the conspiracy, which ran from June 2005 to November 2008, Worley allegedly stole $366,054 worth of insulin, and received several $2,000 payments from Pepin, according to the indictment. The retail value was more than $1.2 million.
The indictment states that the supplies sold by Pepin “to other small drug distributors (some licensed and some not licensed) and to smaller pharmacies who may not have been aware that First Medical Resources, Inc. was not a licensed drug wholesaler in the State of Florida.”
So, here in the country with the highest health-care costs in the world, but without better outcomes, health consumers apparently need to add another step to their safety list: Making sure a pharmacy is licensed, and that its drug distributors and wholesalers are also licensed.
Meanwhile, in Washington on Tuesday, pharmaceutical companies defended themselves against complaints about rising medicine prices as the health care debate finally rolls around to an obvious suspect. The AARP released a report in November about the rising prices that prompted Democrats in both the House and Senate to seek outside investigations, Reuters reported.
In the Senate, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to allow U.S.-licensed pharmacies and wholesalers to import FDA-approved medication from Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, where they all cost less.
Finally. Affordable, accessible medicine is one way to keep those without conscience from profiting off the illnesses of others.
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