Introduction
The opioid overdose crisis has been one of the significant problems for the American economy and healthcare system for more than 20 years. The documentary “Crime of the Century” by Alex Gibney reveals many details concerning the problem. The research conducted by the author of the documentary, together with his team, is the deepest and the most trustworthy one on the opioid epidemic.
Main body
The documentary reveals billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies’ shady business of prescribing drugs to ordinary people in search of enormous income. The business was started by the founder of the Purdue Pharma company and was continued by Insys. The companies’ representatives bribed doctors and officials and falsified documents to legally sell opioids, including morphine and fentanyl, to people suffering from pains of a different kind. In combination with doctors’ high credibility, such a strategy resulted in billions of dollars for the companies and millions of deaths for the country. People participating in such schemes are good psychologists and appeal to patients’ painful emotions, so people may have no idea of being deceived by professional doctors eager to relieve their pain. That is why the opioid crisis has become such a significant problem.
Corrupted doctors, on the contrary, are interested neither in their patient’s health issues nor in their lives. However, most of them are perfect actors, so they mask their desire to earn more money by concern over patients’ lives, making it impossible to be led in pain. The documentary proves that by giving examples of the same stories told either by the patient himself or his family and by the doctor prescribed opioids. Families accuse the doctor of slowly killing his patient instead of curing him. In contrast, the doctor says it is not his responsibility, as the patient took opioids prescribed to him in higher doses. The examples from the documentary confirm that companies producing opioids and doctors prescribing them are interested only in their profit.
Conclusion
To conclude, it is necessary to mention that “Crime of the Century” provides up-to-date data on one of the significant economic and health problems America faces today. Although the series seems not to suggest any possible solutions, it reveals the most crucial aspects of the problem. That is why more people should watch it to be aware of the problem and start solving it.