In Case You Haven't Heard...

Netflix has released a new series, called Painkiller, which professes to detail the guilt of the Sackler family going back to the 1950s, when Purdue Pharma, along with nearly all other pharmaceutical companies, learned that the best way to sell medications to physicians was to sell them directly to physicians. Complete with dramatic music and commentary by people who have lost loved ones to the opioid epidemic —which the series blames on Purdue, OxyContin and the Sacklers — the series sounds like a documentary with an agenda. Judy Berman of Time magazine wrote this in her Aug. 10 review: "Based on Keefe's New Yorker exposé, "The Family That Built an Empire of Pain," and the book Pain Killer by Barry Meier, Painkiller presents a prismatic view of the devastation wrought by OxyContin over the past quarter‐century." But Berman added that these accounts, as well as many others she names, are much more enlightening. "Neither as moving nor as informative as any of the above nonfiction accounts, Painkiller is a flawed vehicle for a vital message about lethal corporate malfeasance in health care and our government's failure to protect us from it. The best it can do is entice us to seek out better information." We heard the producer on National Public Radio last week gloating that he expected Richard Sackler to be much more hurt by his name being removed from the museums and concert halls he donated money to than by the $8 billion he paid to avoid any future civil lawsuits — a deal that has yet to be sealed by the courts. If you want to see Painkiller, go to https://www.netflix.com/title/81095069. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]