TS Radio Network: Whistleblowers! Tom Mueller and Arlene Mullin

Our Guests:

Tom Mueller, author of:  Crisis of Conscience, Whistleblowing In An Age of Fraud

We live in a time of mind-boggling corruption. We also live in a golden age of whistleblowing. Over the past two decades, the brave insiders who act to expose wrongdoing have gained unprecedented legal and social stature, emerging as the government’s best weapon against corporate   misconduct–and the citizenry’s best defense against government gone bad. Whistleblowers force us to confront fundamental questions about balance between free speech and state secrecy, and between individual rights and corporate power.

In Crisis of Conscience, Tom Mueller traces the rise of whistleblowing through a series of riveting cases drawn from the worlds of Big Pharma and health care, the military, finance, and government. Drawing on in-depth interviews with more than two hundred whistleblowers and the trailblazing lawyers who arm them for battle–plus politicians, intelligence analysts, government watchdogs, cognitive scientists, and other experts–he anatomizes what inspires some to speak out while the rest of us avert our eyes.

Joining Mr. Mueller this evening is  "Carrie", a dialysis patient.  "Carrie" knows first hand what goes on in these clinics.  Because she questioned her supposed signature on a document she had never received, a signature that she knew was not in fact hers, her very life was put in jeopardy.  "Carrie" was terminated from Fresenius for asking too many questions, especially regarding the document at issue, and the retaliation began immediately.   With her husband usually attending her own dialysis sessions, he often talked with other patients and clinic workers.

In an odd twist of fate, it turns out "Carrie" may have never needed dialysis at all....