Sicko

The film called Sicko has been two years in the making, and those in the medical industry have been closely watching Michael Moore and what kind of antics that he was going to try to pull.

There have been rumors that his film crew have been going to medical conventions and filming the pharmaceutical displays and trying to get docs on film talking about their free pens.

In Sunday's New York Post, there is a new twist. According to the report, he took ailing Ground Zero responders to Cuba to film how (in his opinion) Castro's socialized medicine is superior to the medical care in the United States.

Responders were told Cuban doctors had developed new techniques for treating lung cancer and other respiratory illness, and that health care in the communist country was free, according to those offered the two-week February trip.

Cuba has made recent advancements in biotechnology and exports its cancer treatments to 40 countries around the world, raking in an estimated $100 million a year, according to The Associated Press.

In 2004 the U.S. government granted an exception to its economic embargo against Cuba and allowed a California drug company to test three cancer vaccines developed in Havana, according to the AP.

Naturally, some people are upset by this and see this as exploitation....

"He's using people that are in a bad situation and that's wrong, that's morally wrong," railed Jeff Endean, a former SWAT commander from Morris County, N.J., who spent a month at Ground Zero and suffers from respiratory problems.

The article goes on to mention one 9/11 worker who didn't want to go on the Cuba trip and another worker who states me was left behind by the filmmaker. I love the closing paragraphs of this article.

"From what I heard through the grapevine, those people that went are utterly happy," said John Feal, who runs the Fealgood Foundation to help raise money for responders and was approached by Moore to find responders willing to take the trip.

"They got the Elvis treatment."

Although he has been a critic of Cuba, Moore grew popular there after a pirated version of his movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11," was played on state-owned TV.

I usually don't dignify garbage like this with a post, but it's going to be a news story eventually - especially with the slated premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in about four weeks. It's definitely going to be hit piece on the pharmaceutical industry with docs being another target.

The press love to spin things up into a frenzy - the recent Imus story is a prime example. I'll have more to say over the next four weeks as the hype increases. I just wanted to get you ready, because the medical industry is going to take more of a beating in the press than usual (and probably from the US presidential candidates as well)....