"In a society governed passively by free markets, organised greed always defeats disorganised democracy." - Matt Taibbi
Until very recently, in the United States alone, injuries involving medical needles resulted in health-care workers being exposed to blood-borne diseases (HIV/AIDS, hepatitis etc) at a rate of about 800,000 a year (cf the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health). Today, in the Third World, millions still die to needle related deaths annually.
In 1989, inventor Thomas J. Shaw stumbled upon a news report about a doctor who contracted HIV from a needle-stick injury. Spurred by his belief that engineers were neglecting the dangers faced by medical staff, Shaw set about designing a "safety needle". With the assistance of a $50,000 grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he was able to do so. That's when the trouble started.
Attempting to get his safety syringes into hospitals, Shaw increasingly met resistance. The source of his woes? A corrupt arrangement between a big needle maker (Becton Dickinson) and Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs). What are GPOs? A union of small companies who buy products in bulk from bigger companies. This allows the GPOs to buy cheaply and pass on the savings to those they supply, which in this case amounts to hundreds of private and state-run hospitals.
Medical GPOs - essentially purchasing cartels - were originally formed with the intention of saving money and protecting hospitals. It turns out, however, that Becton Dickinson was bribing GPOs, and politicians, to block the implementation of innovative medical products, not just syringes. Becton Dickinson's withholding of gear, and its ability to manipulate the cost of the gear it allowed onto the market, would cost its main consumer, the US health-care system, billions of unnecessary dollars.
In 1998, Shaw sought the help of Michael Weiss and Paul Danziger, two lawyers. Michael and Paul drafted up a lawsuit against the GPOs, but the case never went to court. The big companies bought off politicians, lawyers, put the squeeze on Michael and Paul, crippled their law business and bludgeoned Shaw until he agreed to settle out of court.
Unsurprisingly, Weiss would soon die of an overdose. Some believe he was assassinated. If so, his death would echo the "mysterious deaths" of many attorneys embarking upon similar cases. Consider the "mysterious deaths" of Shannon Roth and Thelma Colbert, both US attorneys, and both of whom were working on a case against Novation LLC, a notorious medical supplier charged with anticompetitive practises. At least 5 other attorneys working the case were also pressured into resignation. Consider too US attorney Jonathan Luna, "suicided" after being pressured to stop revealing links between cartels and government lobbyists. Journalists and whistle-blowers like Lynn Everard and Mary Walsh are similarly blacklisted for talking about medical cartels.
Directed by Adam and Mark Kassen, "Puncture" is a legal drama which documents Shaw's attempts to get his needle on the market. It primarily focuses on attorney Michael Weiss (Chris Evans), the young lawyer who attempted to take the GPOs down. In the film, Weiss is presented as a roiling cauldron of contradictions. Though a talented lawyer with an idealistic streak, Weiss also forever indulges in drugs, sex and booze, and sees his GPO case as but a path to fame and money. Weiss' conflicts echo those of his partner, Paul Danziger, who's torn between the pragmatism of running a failing law business - a pragmatism which requires him to focus on smaller cases just to earn a living - and an idealism which mandates that he stands up against bigger fish.
"Puncture" never pretends to be anything other than a humble genre film. This is a David vs Goliath tale, in the vein of other fine whistle-blower dramas ("Silkwood", "Norma Rae", "The Insider" etc). The difference here is "Puncture's" grim tone. Here the bad guys don't get taken down, the case never makes it to court and our heroes are virtually ruined. Epitomising the film's pessimism are its references to the Big Tobacco cases of the 1990s, a battle which Michael Mann's "The Insider" presents as a victory won, but which "Puncture" sees as just a conciliatory payoff designed to keep business running as usual.
"Sometimes the brightest light comes from the darkest place," characters in "Puncture" repeatedly state. But the film itself cautions against gung-ho optimism. When you're talking about hospital supply and pharmaceutical industries, which are worth hundreds of billions of dollars, are expert at eradicating competition, have politicians on their payroll, have massive legal teams and which are themselves wholly or partially owned by giant banks or umbrella groups, you must expect fierce resistance. Businesses have long demonstrated a willingness to kill in the name of profits, and as the climax of "Puncture" shows, even when you've limited the way they prey on the relatively well-defended, they simply hop across the Atlantic and start preying on the defenceless.
8.5/10 – See "The Verdict" (1982) and "The Lincoln Lawyer". Incidentally, "Puncture" stars Vinessa Shaw as a young nurse who contracts HIV from a needle. Shaw famously played Domino in "Eyes Wide Shut", a young woman who is likewise revealed to be HIV positive.
Until very recently, in the United States alone, injuries involving medical needles resulted in health-care workers being exposed to blood-borne diseases (HIV/AIDS, hepatitis etc) at a rate of about 800,000 a year (cf the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health). Today, in the Third World, millions still die to needle related deaths annually.
In 1989, inventor Thomas J. Shaw stumbled upon a news report about a doctor who contracted HIV from a needle-stick injury. Spurred by his belief that engineers were neglecting the dangers faced by medical staff, Shaw set about designing a "safety needle". With the assistance of a $50,000 grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he was able to do so. That's when the trouble started.
Attempting to get his safety syringes into hospitals, Shaw increasingly met resistance. The source of his woes? A corrupt arrangement between a big needle maker (Becton Dickinson) and Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs). What are GPOs? A union of small companies who buy products in bulk from bigger companies. This allows the GPOs to buy cheaply and pass on the savings to those they supply, which in this case amounts to hundreds of private and state-run hospitals.
Medical GPOs - essentially purchasing cartels - were originally formed with the intention of saving money and protecting hospitals. It turns out, however, that Becton Dickinson was bribing GPOs, and politicians, to block the implementation of innovative medical products, not just syringes. Becton Dickinson's withholding of gear, and its ability to manipulate the cost of the gear it allowed onto the market, would cost its main consumer, the US health-care system, billions of unnecessary dollars.
In 1998, Shaw sought the help of Michael Weiss and Paul Danziger, two lawyers. Michael and Paul drafted up a lawsuit against the GPOs, but the case never went to court. The big companies bought off politicians, lawyers, put the squeeze on Michael and Paul, crippled their law business and bludgeoned Shaw until he agreed to settle out of court.
Unsurprisingly, Weiss would soon die of an overdose. Some believe he was assassinated. If so, his death would echo the "mysterious deaths" of many attorneys embarking upon similar cases. Consider the "mysterious deaths" of Shannon Roth and Thelma Colbert, both US attorneys, and both of whom were working on a case against Novation LLC, a notorious medical supplier charged with anticompetitive practises. At least 5 other attorneys working the case were also pressured into resignation. Consider too US attorney Jonathan Luna, "suicided" after being pressured to stop revealing links between cartels and government lobbyists. Journalists and whistle-blowers like Lynn Everard and Mary Walsh are similarly blacklisted for talking about medical cartels.
Directed by Adam and Mark Kassen, "Puncture" is a legal drama which documents Shaw's attempts to get his needle on the market. It primarily focuses on attorney Michael Weiss (Chris Evans), the young lawyer who attempted to take the GPOs down. In the film, Weiss is presented as a roiling cauldron of contradictions. Though a talented lawyer with an idealistic streak, Weiss also forever indulges in drugs, sex and booze, and sees his GPO case as but a path to fame and money. Weiss' conflicts echo those of his partner, Paul Danziger, who's torn between the pragmatism of running a failing law business - a pragmatism which requires him to focus on smaller cases just to earn a living - and an idealism which mandates that he stands up against bigger fish.
"Puncture" never pretends to be anything other than a humble genre film. This is a David vs Goliath tale, in the vein of other fine whistle-blower dramas ("Silkwood", "Norma Rae", "The Insider" etc). The difference here is "Puncture's" grim tone. Here the bad guys don't get taken down, the case never makes it to court and our heroes are virtually ruined. Epitomising the film's pessimism are its references to the Big Tobacco cases of the 1990s, a battle which Michael Mann's "The Insider" presents as a victory won, but which "Puncture" sees as just a conciliatory payoff designed to keep business running as usual.
"Sometimes the brightest light comes from the darkest place," characters in "Puncture" repeatedly state. But the film itself cautions against gung-ho optimism. When you're talking about hospital supply and pharmaceutical industries, which are worth hundreds of billions of dollars, are expert at eradicating competition, have politicians on their payroll, have massive legal teams and which are themselves wholly or partially owned by giant banks or umbrella groups, you must expect fierce resistance. Businesses have long demonstrated a willingness to kill in the name of profits, and as the climax of "Puncture" shows, even when you've limited the way they prey on the relatively well-defended, they simply hop across the Atlantic and start preying on the defenceless.
8.5/10 – See "The Verdict" (1982) and "The Lincoln Lawyer". Incidentally, "Puncture" stars Vinessa Shaw as a young nurse who contracts HIV from a needle. Shaw famously played Domino in "Eyes Wide Shut", a young woman who is likewise revealed to be HIV positive.