Murder or suicide?

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Intercat said:
If a person dies because the cost of his/her medication is too high, and s/he can’t afford to buy it, is it considered suicide or murder? If pharmaceutical companies price medication knowing that it’s out of reach to some, there is INTENTION. If someone knows not taking certain meds will cause death, there is also INTENTION.
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Its neither.
 
Very informative and insightful response.
 
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Perhaps. I’m a little disappointed with the lack of discussion. I saw a news item on TV this morning about pharmacy companies raising rates which flies in the face of what others stated yesterday. Who is to say your premise is correct without supportive information? I’m supposed to just take your word?
 
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Intercat said:
Perhaps. I’m a little disappointed with the lack of discussion. I saw a news item on TV this morning about pharmacy companies raising rates which flies in the face of what others stated yesterday. Who is to say your premise is correct without supportive information? I’m supposed to just take your word?
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This is an internet forum. People discuss what interests them.

I don’t see how “raising rates” is counterintuitive to anything I said. There are many things which raise rates from criminal behavior to higher costs of research, prolonged human trials (note the FDA is “cracking down” and animal research is becoming more taboo) and factoring in more failed drugs.
 
And greed. Discuss whatever you want, but when you respond to a thread, it makes sense to stay on topic and expound on the subject matter, you know, like a conversation. Give and take. Discussion.
 
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You believe all news is fake news? I listen to everything unless it is obviously inhumane, cruel, abusive, or moronic. Then I shut it down. The rest, I listen to and consider the source. Then I make an informed decision.
 
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Stay on the topic?

You are trying to indicate that charging a price for drugs that someone cannot pay is akin to murdering them. Not only is that wrong, quite frankly, it’s a repulsive statement that vilifies the very profession it’s placing the blame on.

The news declared that prices are being raised. There are two options. The first is that it is a criminal act (which, yes would be greedy) and the second is that there is a legitimate need.

I know people in R&D and QC. Not in the pharmaceutical business, but in food. Many times some Mommy nobody freaks out because they think there is a hair or rat turd or some other crazy thing in their packaged food. 99.9% of the time it’s a byproduct of production…a “hair” of a piece of corn, a few burned particles of food, etc. This drives costs up. WAY up. Because the food company is now paying for both an independent testing lab and their own testing lab with their own staff. Fortunately for food companies, they have the ability to simply “shrink” packaging rather than raise the price. Drug companies can’t do this. They can’t make a 14 pill pack into a 10 pill pack.

So why am I not upset by drug companies raising prices? Because it happens.

America is in a funny position. We are expected to be the global leader in drug development. We expect it to be funded privately and not by the government (unlike how drug creation happens in much of the rest of the world). We ask private entities to take a risk…then we don’t want to reward them for that. Scientists come to the US to be involved in these projects.

Our system is flawed…yet it’s producing results that are not being seen anywhere else around the globe on the scale the US does.

I suppose the question I’d want to be answered is not “is it murder to withhold a drug for cost” but " is it morally negligent not to use an system with proven results to not persue developing drugs no matter the end cost."
 
I also make an informed decision. I’ve been blessed to be able to work in, or know people who work in, a lot of the areas that get covered on the news, including pharma, defense, government and law.
Most of what’s reported is so dumbed down or biased for the target set of viewers, it’s useless.
There are a small handful of knowledgeable reporters but they are few and far between.
News these days relies on getting people’s emotions all charged up and making them upset or angry.
I’m sad to see people fall for it, because it causes the handful of things that they perhaps should be upset and angry about to be lost in the mix of fake and biased and just poorly informed/ poorly reported.
 
That’s the kind of response I’m looking for. Information so u can learn something. I spent 40 years working in medicine (hospitals, doctors, etc). I saw a lot of high costs and expensive cars. That’s all I have time to get into now. I loved medicine. Didn’t much like the way it was handled. How am I supposed to know how Pharma works without asking questions and being given serious, elaborate answers??
 
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Intercat said:
That’s the kind of response I’m looking for. Information so u can learn something. I spent 40 years working in medicine (hospitals, doctors, etc). I saw a lot of high costs and expensive cars. That’s all I have time to get into now. I loved medicine. Didn’t much like the way it was handled. How am I supposed to know how Pharma works without asking questions and being given serious, elaborate answers??
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Google?

Honestly, though, I don’t blame doctors for having fancy cars and being paid well. Medicine is actually one of the most fatal and life-shortening occupations there is out there. We should pay nurses and lower level staff better–not doctors less.
 
Don’t get in a snit over the word elaborate. I was rushing to leave. I think doctors get paid just fine. Nurses and anyone else in medicine not so much. Initially, I git s degree to be a medical secretary. It was well known to be the poorest paying area of the three considered. Legal, medical, executive. All the money goes to the top.
 
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Intercat said:
Unfortunately, I don’t see life in a lot of shades of grey. I never thought of Catholicism as anything but black and white. It’s either a sin or it’s not. The question originates from the state our country is in presently. People losing health care, prices of meds going through the roof. Does Jesus work in shades if grey? Or is He pretty much black and white?
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Yes, but it doesn’t mean the only options are suicide or murder.

Perhaps there is a sin of greed or negligence by the pharmaceutical company - if they produce the meds cheaply but price them incredibly high. But not the intent required for murder.

Perhaps there are sins on the part of the sick person - eg if they gamble away all their money and that is the reason for not getting their meds. Even then, gambling can be a serious addiction that limits culpability. Or they might not be aware of just how important the meds are.

Episodes in Christ’s life such as the woman caught in adultery and his forgiveness of the good thief show, I think, that sin and.forgiveness is not always black-and-white.
 
There is always a caveat- Christ always says, “Go and sin no more.” If a sinner repents, forgiveness is granted. So, there is black and white. Unless that has changed, too, but in the readings at Mass every week, everything seems to be as I remember.
 
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