Editing Political corruption (section)

=== Other areas: public safety, trade unions, police corruption, etc. ===

{{More citations needed section|date=August 2016}}<!--many scandalous examples, each of which should have a reference to serious documentation-->
Corruption is not specific to poor, developing, or transition countries. In western countries, cases of bribery and other forms of corruption in all possible fields exist: under-the-table payments made to reputed surgeons by patients attempting to be on top of the list of forthcoming surgeries,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://vancouversun.com/health/Cash+bribes+patients+atop+surgery+waiting+lists/3893239/story.html |title=Cash bribes put patients atop surgery waiting lists |newspaper=The Vancouver Sun |date=November 27, 2010 |last=Fidelman |first=Charlie |access-date=2011-01-21 }}{{dead link|date=June 2012}}</ref> bribes paid by suppliers to the automotive industry in order to sell low-quality connectors used for instance in safety equipment such as airbags, bribes paid by suppliers to manufacturers of defibrillators (to sell low-quality capacitors), contributions paid by wealthy parents to the "social and culture fund" of a prestigious university in exchange for it to accept their children, bribes paid to obtain diplomas, financial and other advantages granted to unionists by members of the executive board of a car manufacturer in exchange for employer-friendly positions and votes, etc. Examples are endless.

These various manifestations of corruption can ultimately present a danger for public health; they can discredit specific, essential institutions or social relationships.   Osipian summarized a 2008 "study of corruption perceptions among Russians ... .30 percent of the respondents marked the level of corruption as very high, while another 44 percent as high. 19 percent considered it as average and only 1 percent as low. The most corrupt in people's minds are traffic police (33 percent), local authorities (28 percent), police (26 percent), healthcare (16 percent), and education (15 percent). 52 percent of the respondents had experiences of giving money or gifts to
medical professionals while 36 percent made informal payments to educators." He claimed that this corruption lowered the rate of economic growth in Russia, because the students disadvantaged by this corruption could not adopt better work methods as quickly, lowering thereby [[total factor productivity]] for Russia.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Osipian|first1=Ararat|title=Education Corruption, Reform, and Growth: Case of Post-Soviet Russia|url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/17447/|website=Munich Personal RePEc Archive|publisher=Munich University Library|access-date=2016-05-21|date=2009-09-22|ref = MPRA Paper No. 17447}}</ref>

Corruption can affect the various components of sports activities (referees, players, medical and laboratory staff involved in anti-doping controls, members of national sport federation and international committees deciding about the allocation of contracts and competition places). Cases exist against (members of) various types of non-profit and non-government organizations, as well as religious organizations. Ultimately, the distinction between public and private sector corruption sometimes appears rather artificial, and national anti-corruption initiatives may need to avoid legal and other loopholes in the coverage of the instruments.