Sleepdriving, sleepcrashing, and Gardasil

Here’s a bizarre tale that ends with a dirty little revelation about manipulation of doctors by drug companies.

It starts with a Merck drug rep named David Turkheimer who was prescribed Ambien CR to help him sleep. He was also using Prednisone — a powerful corticosteroid.

One night, Turkheimer began sleepwalking, which is a controversial Ambien side effect. During his “walk,” Turkheimer got into his car, drove away, and promptly crashed it.

In the ER that night, he was treated and diagnosed with “delirium secondary to medication.”

He was fired from Merck shortly after.

In a lawsuit, Turkheimer claims that his supervisor informed Merck HR that the injured rep had a mental condition and had caused a car accident under the influence of a narcotic and possibly alcohol.

Now…here’s where it gets good…

Turkheimer further claims that the real reason he was fired had nothing to do with the accident.

He says that a few months before his accident, he had refused to follow his supervisor’s instructions to tell a doctor that patients would die if he didn’t prescribe the HPV vaccine Gardasil.

Turkheimer says he was also encouraged to tell a doctor that his insurance rates would go down if he prescribed Gardasil.

Turkheimer says he refused both requests, and he believes that’s why he was fired.

I’m sure there’s more to the story (there always is). But at the core, we’re hearing that the drug companies will stop at nothing to get their moneymakers prescribed. Threats, lies, false promises…seems like those are just the side effects of being around all those pharmaceuticals.

Source:
“Merck Sales Rep Is Fired For Sleepdriving” Ed Silverman, Pharmalot, 5/20/11, pharmalot.com