Thursday, February 28, 2008

Currency conversion case

[sent by US Mail on February 23,2008]

Memorandum

To: Chief Ethics Officers
VISA U.S.A.
MasterCard
CitiGroup
Bank of America
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
Washington Mutual

From: Robert Shattuck
[my city]
[my email address]
[my tel. no.]

Re: Credit card currency conversion fee antitrust litigation; business ethics

Date: February 23, 2008

I would be interested in your views, as chief ethics officers of the defendants in the above litigation, about a letter I wrote to Judge Pauley in that litigation, which letter can be found on the web at http://robertshattuck.blogspot.com/2007/11/september-2007-credit-card-currency.html, and a related general article I wrote “Is the Law an Impediment to Business Ethics?”, which article can be found on the web at http://robertshattuck.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-thought-this-would-be-effective-email.html.

If my letter or article provokes a reaction on your part that you would like to communicate to me, you may contact me at my email address or my telephone number set forth above. If you would like to receive this memorandum in electronic form, please email me, and I will send it to you in electronic form.

I hope very much that I hear from you.

Thank you.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

60 Minutes: Bayer withheld info; 22,000 patients died

Dear ____________,

Tonight's 60 Minutes will report that renowned researcher Dr. Dennis Mangano calculates that 22,000 patients could have been saved if the Food and Drug Administration removed Bayer's heart surgery drug Trasylol two years ago, when his study revealed widespread death associated with it, and that Dr. Mangano says Bayer failed to tell the FDA about negative results of their own Trasylol study, placing the drug's success before patient well-being.

As you know from previous emails, I think that the law undermines the institutionalized practice of ethical business conduct by corporations and other organizations, and I believe ethics officers, academics and consultants ought to take greater cognizance of this phenomenon. I continue with my efforts to disseminate my ideas and have started a blog that covers this matter. See F. Ethics Organizations.

I hope my blog will advance my efforts. You could help if you cared to post a comment on my blog or to send me an email.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,