REVIEW: No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson (nonfiction book) by Gardiner Harris

No More Tears is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book unravels Johnson & Johnson's decades-long image as an admirable and ethical company, one product at a time. It starts with Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder and Tylenol, then moves on to Procrit (a medication used to treat anemia), Risperdal (an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia and aggressive behavior in elderly patients with dementia and children with autism), Duragesic (an opioid pain patch), and the Ortho Evra birth control patch. It wraps up with medical devices, such as the Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implant and the Prolift vaginal mesh, and Johnson & Johnson's COVID vaccine. This isn't just a book about one company, however. It's a look at the at the many failings and corporate loopholes present in the FDA and American healthcare system.

There's a lot here, laid out in a way intended to make it clear that Johnson & Johnson spent decades selling products its own studies had shown to be dangerous. In some cases, the dangers weren't immediately apparent, but some of the products discussed in this book were known from the start to be dangerous and to either impart no more benefits than other products already on the market or to even make things worse for patients. Even J&J's best example of its ethical behavior, its massive 1982 Tylenol recall is shown to be yet another example of bad behavior dressed up as something better.

This is not the book you want to read if you need any kind of reassurance about the state of American healthcare. There are bribery schemes, conveniently skewed peer-reviewed studies, an FDA that isn't nearly as tough as its reputation, and well-meaning doctors convinced that the problems reported by their patients are due to errors on their part rather than issues with the products they're using that J&J was already well aware of. I spent the baby powder section thinking about anyone I've ever known who's had ovarian cancer. The part about the Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implant had me thinking, uncomfortably, about the hip replacements I'll eventually need.

This was a worthwhile read, but also horrible. Yay, capitalism. I'll have to figure out a way to purge it from my brain when it comes time for those hip implants. Goodness knows I'll already be anxious enough.