Michael Friedman, Paul Goldenheim, and Howard Udell were executives at Purdue Frederick Company when it misbranded the drug OxyContin. The misbranding dealt with their company’s marketing and promotion of OxyContin as “less addictive, less subject to abuse and diversion, and less likely to cause tolerance and withdrawal than other pain medications”—representations that are false.

The three were convicted of felony charges of misbranding the drug as responsible corporate officers at a company at the time the misbranding occurred. The three appealed both their convictions as responsible corporate officers as well as their 12-year suspension from participation as an executive in a health care company. Can the three be held criminally responsible for the problems with the drug labels? Explain. Also, discuss the sanction of their banishment from the health care field. [Friedman v Sebelius, 686 F.2d 813 (C.A.D.C. 2012)]