Bringing Bad Things to Life The alliance between GE Medical Systems and NY-Presbyterian Hospital Martin Donohoe

The Partners NY-Presbyterian Hospital One of the largest academic health care institutions in the U.S. GE Medical Systems Subsidiary of General Electric $9 billion annual revenues

The Agreement (2003) 10-year, $500 million agreement requires NYP to purchase products and services from GEMS in exchange for purported discounts on medical supplies and the promise of enhanced technological standardization and simplification

General Electric Ranked by Forbes as world’s largest company (based on equal weighting of sales, profits, assets, and market value) 2015 revenues of $117 billion Close to the GDP of more than 2/3 of U.N. member states 2015 net after-tax profits of $15.9 billion Majority from overseas operations

General Electric Makes household appliances, lighting, and medical equipment Plastics division, which produced bisphenol A, spun off in 2008 Produces jet engines and military hardware Manufactures advance surveillance technologies

GE’s History Charles Wilson (CEO of GE pre- and post-WW II; helped oversee U.S. military production during WW II): “The revulsion against war…will be an almost insuperable obstacle for us to overcome. For that reason, I am convinced that we must begin now to set the machinery in motion for a permanent wartime economy.”

General Electric Has built 91 nuclear power plants in 11 countries (including the troubled Fukushima Daishi plants in Japan) Including 23 plants at 11 sites in U.S. e.g., Hanford ¼ of GE’s US reactors found to be defective

General Electric Operates coal-burning power plants Major releasers of toxic mercury Number 2 corporation in oil-field services industry after joining forces with Baker Hughes (2016) Produces nearly 40 technologies used in fracking Increasing investments in fracking

General Electric Operates a large financial services group Responsible for over 50% of company’s profits in recent years 2015: company plans to sell off majority of GE Capital (now Syncrhony Financial) over next 2 years Under investigation by the Justice Department for over potential bankruptcy violations

General Electric Until recently, owned 49% of a multi-billion dollar media empire Including NBC, Telemundo, and Universal Studios Comcast owned 51%; bought out GE in 2013

GE’s History Conducted unethical human subject experiments on prisoners, involving testicular irradiation, from 1940s to 1960s Intentionally-released excessive radiation from its Hanford, WA nuclear reactor in the 1980s, to determine how far it would travel May have contributed to increased thyroid cancers, hypothyroidism, and spontaneous abortions in “Downwinders”

GE’s Record Sued radiologist who brought to light dangers of GE’s contrast agent, Omniscan Causes nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (FDA black box warning) Gadolinium (heavy metal) may cause brain damage, probably not Parkinson’s Disease Ordered to pay $11.4 million to Bracco Diagnositcs for falsely/misleadingly claiming that its x-ray contrast agent Visipaque was superior to BD’s Isovue

GE’s Record 2013: Recalls multiple nuclear medicine imaging systems due to mechanical problem that could cause serious injury or death 2015: Pays $2.25 million civil penalty for potentially releasing unsafe levels of air pollution (including carcinogens) from hazardous waste incinerator in Waterford, CT (falsified pollution control records)

GE’s Record America’s largest corporate polluter 116 Superfund sites nationwide Approximately 13 in NY

GE’s Record Between 1947 and 1977, two of its capacitor manufacturing plants dumped at least 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River Probable human carcinogens with adverse effects on liver, kidney, nervous system, and reproductive organs (EPA) 200 mi of Hudson Superfund site Similar to GE’s contamination of Housatonic River (Pittsfield, MA) – cleanup still ongoing

GE’s Record Spent millions to avoid Hudson cleanup and to weaken or eliminate Superfund Law 2010: Cleanup begins 2016: Cleanup completed (cost $1.6 billion to remove 310,000 lbs PCBs/2.5 million cubic yards of material) 2016: NY State Environmental Commissioner calls cleanup inadequate 2017: EPA to complete review

GE’s Record Contributes to corporate front groups Promulgate an anti-scientific and pseudo-scientific agenda Conduct media disinformation campaigns in an attempt to weaken health and environmental regulations

GE’s Record Tremendous influence of environmental, energy, and health policy Spent $22 million on lobbying in 2015 More than $200 million over last decade Many members of board of directors have government ties; others have insurance and pharmaceutical industry ties

GE’s Record Has eliminated 150,000 jobs in the U.S. in the last 15 years While receiving billions in federal contracts and millions in state and local subsidies Percentage of total employees in U.S. 1995 – 68% 2005 – 51% 2015 – 38%

GE’s Record One of nation’s top outsourcers of jobs 1/5 of U.S. workforce eliminated since 2002 (while overseas workforce increased) Eliminated 34,000 US jobs between 2000 and 2010 Added 25,000 overseas jobs over same period

GE’s Record Executive pension plan far more generous than for other employees Continues to shift health care costs onto workers, despite growing profits

GE’s Record Cited by Human Rights Watch for “systematic workers’ rights violations” in the U.S. and abroad 858 OSHA workplace citations from 1990-2001 Investments include for-profit prison enterprises

GE’s Record GE has sponsored PGA Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club Club excludes women CEO Immelt a member

GE’s Record Topped 2002 Project on Government Oversight’s list of repeat offenders for defrauding U.S. taxpayers Paid more than $982 million in fines, judgments, and out-of-court settlements between 1990 and 2002 Financial services division fined $100 million for unfair debt collection practices and bankruptcy court malfeasance

GE and Corporate Taxes GE topped the list of corporate tax break recipients from 2001-2003: $9.5 billion in tax breaks Between 2001 and 2010, paid only 2.3% of its $81 billion profits in federal taxes Claimed tax benefits of $3.5 billion in 2010 Under investigation for tax evasion in Brazil Tax department has almost 1,000 employees (known as the “world’s best tax law firm”)

GE’s Record In 1990s, Pentagon’s Defense Contract Management Agency created special investigations office specifically for GE Nevertheless, company has been awarded increasingly costly reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan

GE’s Record The Patient Channel Shown in hospital rooms throughout country Advertising vehicle for drug companies Criticized by JCAHO for manipulative marketing practices

GE’s Record Produces an electronic medical record, Centricity EMR Is hoping to receive some of the $19 billion earmarked for health care information technology in the current economic stimulus package.

GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt 2015 total compensation = $33 million Named “World’s Best CEO” in 3 separate Barron’s polls 2006 - 2011 - On Board of NY Federal Reserve Bank

GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt 2008 – Named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” by TIME Magazine 2009 - Appointed by President Obama to his Economic Recovery Board GE then became eligible, via a loophole, for ¼ of the $340 billion Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (debt support)

GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt 2011 - Appointed by Obama as Chair of his outside panel of Economic Advisors and of his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness

GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt Charitable works include membership on the board of directors of “The Robin Hood Foundation”!

GE’s Record Named “America’s Most Admired Company” by Forbes Named one of the “World’s Most Respected Companies” in polls conducted by Barron’s and The Financial Times

Concerns About the Agreement Provides GE with financial incentives to promote high technology purchases Hospital prohibited from purchasing more effective equipment from other companies

Concerns About the Agreement Augments trend in academic medical centers to promote the use of expensive, high-technology care at expense of preventive care and public health measures Highly reimbursable Services may be redundant in certain locations

Concerns About the Agreement Occurs at time 41 million Americans uninsured Academic medical centers promoting luxury primary care clinics and seeking wealthy overseas patients while cutting back on services to the un- and under-insured

Concerns About the Agreement Academic medical centers becoming increasingly corporatized Research exclusivity contracts Secrecy gag clauses Skewing of research agenda

GE’s Record Signed licensing agreement with Cornell Medical School in 2001 re CT scan technologies to screen for lung cancer Cornell Research Foundation funding primarily from the Vector Group (parent company = Liggett = tobacco company) Antonio Gotto (Cornell Medical School Dean) and Arthur Mahon (Vice Chairman of College Board of Overseers) on Foundation’s Board of Directors

GE’s Record Dean Gotto stated Cornell publicly disclosed the Vector Group’s role in funding the Foundation However, searches via google and Cornell’s own search engine turn up no such disclosure, and Cornell’s press office did not respond to inquiry re the original disclosure Foundation funded EL-CAP study (NEJM), which concluded that screening asymptomatic smokers for lung cancer can detect curable tumors Controversial finding, contradicted by other studies

GE’s Record Vector Group/Liggett’s role as funding source not mentioned in original article, in violation of conflict of interest disclosure policy Patents and royalties from GE technology not noted either Large profit potentials for GE (increased screening) and Liggett (reassured smokers less likely to quit) For references, see http://phsj.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/elcap-vector-cornell-coi-bioethics-listserv-posts-4-08.doc

Concerns About the Agreement I contacted the CEO of New York Presbyterian Hospital, the Dean, and the head of the Ethics Department to obtain more information re the agreement and the nature of the discussion preceding the agreement No Response

Concerns About the Agreement Patients with developmental anomalies and cancers caused by GE’s pollution diagnosed with GE scanners and treated with GE-manufactured therapeutic devices, increasing GE’s profit

A macabre twist on “cradle to grave care”

Reference Donohoe MT, Robinson C. Corporations and Public Health: Overview and Case Study of GE Healthcare - "Most Admired Company" or Foe of Public Health. Social Medicine 2010;5(4):237-244. Available at http://www.socialmedicine.info/index.php/socialmedicine/article/view/482/1035.

Public Health and Social Justice Website Contact Information Public Health and Social Justice Website http://www.phsj.org martindonohoe@phsj.org