When you hear the word whistleblower, the first thing that might come to mind is a referee or umpire. While the word does sound like it refers to someone who officiates a sports match, that is not correct. According to Wikipedia, a whistleblower is a person who exposes secretive information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within a private or public organization. The information on the alleged wrongdoing can be classified in many ways: violation of company policy/rules, law, regulation, or threat to public interest/national security, as well as fraud, and corruption.
Whistleblowers often face scrutiny, legal ramifications, and are left ostracized and isolated. This begs the question, is it worth the consequences? Many whistleblowers defend their actions with ethics. They believe that it is of the utmost importance to expose the wrongdoings of the organization they are affiliated with even at their own detriment.
An example of a whistleblower in action is with Pfizer. Pfizer is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. The company made a drug called Neurontin. This drug was meant to be used only as an adjunctive epileptic medication. Pfizer claimed it could be used for other disorders though, such as bipolar disease. There was no approval for this by the FDA or NDA. Pfizer decided to focus heavily on marketing the drug for off label use rather than spend the money for additional studies to get it approved for bipolar disease. Paid Physicians to promote Neurontin for off-label uses and to prescribe higher doses than what was approved safe. An employee at the time became a whistleblower. The (now former) employee saw the illegal actions and spoke up, causing a hefty lawsuit. The company made 2.7 billion dollars a year off of the drug and paid $430 million in criminal fines which is not a lot in comparison to their profits off the drug.
Whistleblowers can be good for society as they tend to do what is ethical. On the other end, it can be bad for the companies who get called out on illegal activities or malpractices. The Pfizer example shows how whistleblowers can help society because the drug being illegally marketed could have proved harmful. Whistleblower cases are often seen in politics too. When someone on the inside of an organization comes forward with information that proves the organization to be doing wrong, they are helping those on the outside. For myself, being an average individual in society I am unaware of false information. I go by what companies or organizations say and trust them on their word. When it is false, it is the whistleblowers that help the average individuals outside of the organization.
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/14/business/pfizer-to-pay-430-million-over-promoting-drug-to-doctors.html
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