So it's done; I have a job now. A full time job with some things that resembles benefits. *sigh*. I have been holding my mouth closed for a long time out of fear and worry. But I can open my mouth now and talk about something that is a problem. It isn't a problem for me, it isn't a problem for you, rather instead it is a problem for everyone. For reasons of legalese I can't actually say the name of the company in questions so I will call them Stereotypical Medical Device company or SMD for short.
I came with SMD fresh out of college with needs for cash and money to continue paying back loans, debts, and associated expenses. They hired me on as a temp. What I discovered is that I was actually hired on as a permatemp; for those unfamiliar with the term a permatemp is an individual who is brought into a company as a temporary employee and then kept on for repeated cycles without any real hope or prayer of actually getting hired on.
This is a term that was first coined in Silicon Value for people who were being hired on like this in the technology sector but this practice has spread far and wide throughout. And this is the situation that I was hired onto at SMD; no real chance of an actual job with actual benefits for at least four years (permatemp cycles can only last two years due to legal reasons).
My job as SMD was as an medical device analyst, I would take the device and analyze why it failed so that our company and the FDA could keep track of on-going problems and report them for the safety of our patients/customers. In other words my job was to make sure that the device that was being stuck in your body did it's job and didn't endanger your life. I was signing off on FDA regulated forms and paperwork.
Now that you know what I did, I want to tell you why I didn't really do it. As an employee you are protected in a way from your employer; they can't falsely report you and they have to take measured steps if you need to be terminated from the company. In other words you are protected. A permatemp has none of these protections, you are literally at the mercy and whim of your employee.
If you annoy and aggravate your employer you lose your job. In other words if I raised any questions or problems with our product, I lose my job. If I took to many days off in order to look to permanent work or go to the doctor, I lose my job. If I did anything that they felt wasn't appropriate, I lose my job.
Not only this, but this method of indoctrination assured that when and if people were hired full time that this feeling would continue. Watching a room full of full-time employees watching the help wanted adds because they full they didn't have any power in the matter is a sad depressing scene.
This meant that if I was told to do certain things I would feel that I have a choice because it's my financial well being. In the course of working for SMD, I was told to "fudge" results, given formal written instruction to lie by omission to federal auditors whenever possible, and told that anything within the device history was to be ignored unless it formally dealt with the problems associated with the complaint itself. I also had to sit there and observed flaws that were known about the pump cause actual medical harm and hospitalization to patients.
If I am forced by my superiors to lie about the nature of a medical device, then my job is pointless and honestly fraudulent.
The truth is this, in ethics related positions within industry it is immoral and wrong to have someone making ethical choices about a product, device, or person when their job security is held by another. Pematemps suffice to say can't make actual ethical choices because they are compromised. In my position at SMD I was forced to sit there as I was told to lie by omission and sit there watching as flaws designed into the product caused actual medical harm to our customers and patients.
This is a flaw in our society that causes lawsuits, damages, paint, and harm to innocents. It is a choice made by companies in order to ease the bottom line as well as protect themselves. This is something that we need to stop.
Well said.
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