There is no such thing as a free lunch.
According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, "94 percent of more than 3,000 physicians surveyed reported some type of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry" -- ie. this could be something as simple as receiving free pens to "receiving payments for consulting, giving lectures and even enrolling their patients in trials" ... and even all expenses paid vacations.
The article, "Could Doctors' Drug Industry Ties Affect Your Care?" states, "data remain scant on what effect, if any, these [doctor- pharmaceutical industry] relationships have on the provision of health care.'
How can anyone trust a doctor who is (or has) in the past received "all expenses paid vacations" from a pharmaceutical company to be completely unbiased when recommending prescriptions or treatments? Would you trust your doctor to be giving you the best advice when s/he is receiving freebies from pharmaceutical companies?
There is an argument that freebies will not influence anyone's (ie. a doctor's) opinion. However, we respectfully disagree. Doctors are humans and as such are subject to influences. If s/he is in a situation where s/he can recommend two drugs to a patient, s/he may be more inclined to prescribe the drug whose maker sent him/her freebies.
Should all freebies be banned? Do pens and notepads really influence a doctor's decisions? Perhaps they don't, but why is it needed? Doctors do not need more stationery.
Sample drugs? There might be some legitimacy that it's a good thing if pharma companies give out free samples so doctors can give them to their patients --- as long as the doctors let the patients know of alternative drugs (especially lower priced generics) they can take once the samples run out.
What do you think about the freebies doctors receive? Should these doctor-pharma relationships be sanctioned by the government?
The article, "Could Doctors' Drug Industry Ties Affect Your Care?" states, "data remain scant on what effect, if any, these [doctor- pharmaceutical industry] relationships have on the provision of health care.'
How can anyone trust a doctor who is (or has) in the past received "all expenses paid vacations" from a pharmaceutical company to be completely unbiased when recommending prescriptions or treatments? Would you trust your doctor to be giving you the best advice when s/he is receiving freebies from pharmaceutical companies?
There is an argument that freebies will not influence anyone's (ie. a doctor's) opinion. However, we respectfully disagree. Doctors are humans and as such are subject to influences. If s/he is in a situation where s/he can recommend two drugs to a patient, s/he may be more inclined to prescribe the drug whose maker sent him/her freebies.
Should all freebies be banned? Do pens and notepads really influence a doctor's decisions? Perhaps they don't, but why is it needed? Doctors do not need more stationery.
Sample drugs? There might be some legitimacy that it's a good thing if pharma companies give out free samples so doctors can give them to their patients --- as long as the doctors let the patients know of alternative drugs (especially lower priced generics) they can take once the samples run out.
What do you think about the freebies doctors receive? Should these doctor-pharma relationships be sanctioned by the government?
posted by CareTALKGals(tm) at 4/29/2007 10:42:00 PM
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