Painkiller (Netflix)

Saw it listed but haven't watched, will give it a go, love something to binge.
 
There's a comedic tone which feels off for the subject matter not to mention the bizarre opening scenes of each episode.
But the Taylor Kitsch storyline was excellent and really drives home the point of what this drug did to families.
 
A good watch, finished E4 last night. 2 to go. Scary how the FDA handled this issue & how people with money and power can get away with things.
 
WaxLyrical said:
There's a comedic tone which feels off for the subject matter not to mention the bizarre opening scenes of each episode.
But the Taylor Kitsch storyline was excellent and really drives home the point of what this drug did to families.
Click to expand...

I think the tone works because that is the illusion Purdue created around the drug and the sensation the drug itself induces. The aggressive, appealing marketing alongside the drug-induced euphoria creates this almost la-la-land-like vibe. The salespeople themselves and the doctors were smoke-and-mirrored into believing this was some miracle drug with little to no downsides.
 
Harold_Crick said:
I think the tone works because that is the illusion Purdue created around the drug and the sensation the drug itself induces. The aggressive, appealing marketing alongside the drug-induced euphoria creates this almost la-la-land-like vibe. The salespeople themselves and the doctors were smoke-and-mirrored into believing this was some miracle drug with little to no downsides.
Click to expand...
From the rat tests they knew all along how addictive and dangerous it is, and the effects thereof.
Don't think there were any illusions tbh.
 
WaxLyrical said:
From the rat tests they knew all along how addictive and dangerous it is, and the effects thereof.
Don't think there were any illusions tbh.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know Purdue knew the extent of the drug. But they are not who I am talking about. I am talking about how they presented the drug through their marketing. Marketing was critical to how they got the drug out there so recklessly. This is the illusion I am talking about.

The salespeople had no clue what they were pushing initially. They were told it was a miracle drug with a low addiction rate and they sold doctors the same pitch. The show walks you through this.

The pretty sales ladies (which was a deliberate marketing plan), the flashy cars, the sales parties, the drug-induced euphoria interjected between all of this. All the while pushing something so deadly. A fantasy ignoring reality.
 
Scary thing is the doctors at least should have known better than to prescribe higher doses of this drug. They are after all trained in this field and would have known about the serious complications & side-effects.
 
Werner1975 said:
Scary thing is the doctors at least should have known better than to prescribe higher doses of this drug. They are after all trained in this field and would have known about the serious complications & side-effects.
Click to expand...

in large part, that's down to how successful - and deceptive - the marketing was, coupled with the fact that it had FDA approval.

I found this to be an interesting read. A physician's opinion on who is to blame and, in his opinion, there were multiple factors at play, and doctors themselves were not free of blame.

First, in all fairness, I will start with physicians. We overprescribe opioids, just as we overprescribe antibiotics. But it is generally well meaning; we don’t want our patients to experience pain. But then we prescribe 30 or 60 pills when 5 or 20 would have been adequate. We do that because we are used to prescribing in multiples of 30; 30 days for a month supply of a once a day medication, 90 days for a mail-order prescription. Prescribing 6 or 10 pills will undoubtedly result in a phone call from a pharmacist asking for a round number of pills, taking up time better spent entering meaningless information into our electronic health record systems. It is the leftover pills that sit forgotten in the medicine cabinet which often lead to trouble, stolen by a relative or visitor and abused.
Click to expand...

The role of these physicians can best be described as innocent bystander. We were truly trying to help the patient. But there are also what are known as “pill mill” doctors who set up shop, accept cash as the only payment and are willing to prescribe to anyone for any ailment, real or feigned. One physician in my area was so bold as to meet his “patients” in a local coffee shop to exchange prescriptions for cash. Needless to say he is no longer licensed to practice medicine. Doctors such as these are criminals and need to be stopped. They cast a long shadow on the work of every other physician trying to help patients.
Click to expand...

After the minor role of physicians comes the real co-conspirators. First up is Purdue Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Oxycontin. Oxycontin was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December, 1995. Despite a lack of increased efficacy in treating pain compared to older medications, Purdue mounted an aggressive marketing campaign that included a warning from the FDA in 2003 over misleading advertisements. Physicians, including myself, believed Purdue and started using Oxycontin, thinking we were helping patients.
Click to expand...

I've read further articles on how American doctors learned about pain and the management thereof. A 2011 study indicated that over the course of their academic studies, a medical student will spend less than 9-hours learning about pain and its management. Not enough time to fully undestand what they were dealing with. That ''pain chart'' they used in the series, the sequence of smiley faces, was an actual medically cleared ''tool'' used by doctors that knew very little about the pain they were treating. Point at the face on the chart and that guides the prescription you got. It was open to abuse.
 
Last edited:
Harold_Crick said:
Binged it in two days. Flippin scary how the opioid crisis unfolded, basically pretty woman and good marketing encouraging doctors to aggressively push something so dangerous.
Click to expand...

Who knew following The Science wasn't everything
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X