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To Blow or Not to Blow — this is the Whistleblower’s Question
Cheryl D. Eckard was drug giant GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) quality manager. In 2002, she was sent to the company’s primary plant in Puerto Rico to fix problems cited by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Eckard quickly recognized that the company’s premier drug-making facility was a disaster. She recorded and reported to senior managers that […]
Has Eliminating Anonymous Complaints Taken the Air Out of Whistleblowers?
In September 2011, Texas enacted a law prohibiting anonymous complaints to the Texas Medical Board (TMB). Whether the new law has dissuaded people from filing complaints about medical professionals requires further examination. In 2011, the last year anonymous complaints were allowed, 8,182 complaints were filed with the TMB. In 2012, the first year after anonymous […]
Whistleblowing with The False Claims Act
The top 30 False Claims Act settlements of 2012 totaled $9,094,474,000. Initiated by whistleblowers, the top three settlements involved $3 billion from GlaxoSmithKline for illegal marketing of prescription drugs, $1.5 billion from Abbott Laboratories for off-label marketing of Depakote and $1 billion from Bank of America for mortgage and bank fraud. The Federal False Claims […]
Five of the All-Time Biggest Whistleblowers
Seek not greatness, but seek truth and you will find both. -Horace Mann From preventing human beings from being used like laboratory animals to revealing multi-million dollar price fixing, whistleblowers often sacrifice their careers and even their lives to reveal the truth. Here are five prominent whistleblowers: Daniel Ellsberg Daniel Ellsberg was a Harvard graduate, […]
The Texas Whistleblower’s Whistle Did not Blow Against TAMUK
Gertrud Moreno was an assistant vice-president and comptroller of Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK). She claimed that her supervisor, Thomas Saban, terminated her after she reported to TAMUK’s president that Saban’s daughter received in-state tuition in violation of state law. After being fired, Moreno sued TAMUK alleging violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act. Elements of the […]
A Texas Whistleblower Could Have Saved Lives
On April 17, 2013, the West Fertilizer plant, owned by Adair Grain, Inc., exploded, killing at least 14 and injuring hundreds more. Although months have passed since the explosion, many questions remain. The plant contained approximately 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia, a chemical substance used to make ammonium nitrate, the same explosive material used by […]
Nurse Anne Mitchell’s Whistleblowing Almost Blew Out Whistleblowing in Texas
The Winkler County nurses trials began with two nurses, Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, filing an anonymous complaint with the Texas Medical Board regarding the substandard care provided by Dr. Rolando Arafiles Jr. When Arafiles learned of the complaint, he complained of harassment to a friend and former patient, who happened to be the county […]
SEC’s Whistleblower Program Trudges Forward
Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it. -Franz Kafka Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act) amended the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by adding the Securities Whistleblower Incentives and Protection. The new section requires that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provide […]
Medicaid Fraud and the Whistleblower
Texas’ campaign against Medicaid fraud reached two landmark milestones. Since 2002, the Civil Medicaid Fraud Division (CMF) recovered more than $400 million for the state of Texas and more than $1 billion for the state and federal governments combined. Texas must share with the federal government what it recovers from Medicaid fraud because Medicaid is […]
A Texas Whistleblower Must Blow his Whistle to a Proper Law Enforcement Authority
In addition to being a professor of surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW), Dr. Larry Gentilello was the Chair of the Division of Burn, Trauma and Critical Care. Gentilello reported to a supervisory faculty member that trauma residents were providing treatment and performing surgeries without the supervision of an attending physician […]
