This is still going on...
"Doctors still taking drug company freebies
Four out of five doctors surveyed said they let drug and device makers buy them food and drinks despite recent efforts to tighten ethics rules and avoid conflicts of interest.
The national survey also found that family doctors were more likely to meet with industry sales representatives, and that cardiologists were more likely to pocket fees than other specialists.
The study is the first to document the extent of the relationships between doctors and sales reps since 2002 when a leading industry group adopted voluntary guidelines discouraging companies from giving doctors gifts or tickets. In general, researchers found hardly anything had changed since previous studies a couple years earlier."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18311856/wid/11915773?GT1=9303
And...
"Posing as pals, drug reps sway doctors’ choices
CHICAGO - As much as doctors would like to deny it, subtle attention from friendly drug sales representatives can have a big impact on what drugs they prescribe, according to two U.S. studies published on Monday.
“Physicians underestimate their own vulnerability. They think they are smarter ... but they are not trained in recognizing this kind of manipulation,” said Adriane Fugh-Berman, a Georgetown University Medical Center researcher and co-author of one of the studies."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18279887/
Once a doctor prescribed medicine for my wife just because he got benefits from the drug company and she almost died because of it.
When is this madness going to end? Are patients relevant at all, or the whole medicine industry is just another form of capitalism and consumerism? :splat:
"Doctors still taking drug company freebies
Four out of five doctors surveyed said they let drug and device makers buy them food and drinks despite recent efforts to tighten ethics rules and avoid conflicts of interest.
The national survey also found that family doctors were more likely to meet with industry sales representatives, and that cardiologists were more likely to pocket fees than other specialists.
The study is the first to document the extent of the relationships between doctors and sales reps since 2002 when a leading industry group adopted voluntary guidelines discouraging companies from giving doctors gifts or tickets. In general, researchers found hardly anything had changed since previous studies a couple years earlier."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18311856/wid/11915773?GT1=9303
And...
"Posing as pals, drug reps sway doctors’ choices
CHICAGO - As much as doctors would like to deny it, subtle attention from friendly drug sales representatives can have a big impact on what drugs they prescribe, according to two U.S. studies published on Monday.
“Physicians underestimate their own vulnerability. They think they are smarter ... but they are not trained in recognizing this kind of manipulation,” said Adriane Fugh-Berman, a Georgetown University Medical Center researcher and co-author of one of the studies."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18279887/
Once a doctor prescribed medicine for my wife just because he got benefits from the drug company and she almost died because of it.
When is this madness going to end? Are patients relevant at all, or the whole medicine industry is just another form of capitalism and consumerism? :splat:
