Patients do benefit from DTC ads

Regarding "Direct-to-patient ads, not free pens, are the real problem" (Letters, Aug. 25): I can't even begin to list the hundreds of men who I found to have hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, prostate cancer and a host of many other diseases that would have otherwise gone undetected had they not seen an erectile dysfunction ad and gotten up enough courage to come in and ask for "the little blue pill." This is just one of many examples of the benefit of these ads.

My sincere feeling is that anything that gets a patient into my waiting room is good. Women are no exception. They may come in because they saw a TV infomercial and leave with a host of other diagnosis along with orders for lab work, mammogram and a bone density test.

I'll never understand why the pharmaceutical industry is singled out for advertising criticism when so much potential for life-changing beneficial possibilities can occur because of them. What other ads have this impact? Trucks? Toilet bowl cleaner? Soap? Let's get real. We all have seen this benefit that the pharmaceutical industry has provided to our practice and patients.

We don't necessarily give the patient what they ask for but what they need. Why is capitalism seemingly OK for all other industries except the one that affects health care professionals? Are doctors not able to discern between product efficacy and hype? Are we so culpable that we prescribe nonindicated meds because of a lunch or dinner?

My best friend has a service station. A well-known engine-additive company comped him and his wife a trip to the Bahamas because of his sales. Did he remove all the competitors' products from his shelves when he returned? The answer is no. Good business practice dictates otherwise. Why shouldn't those same principles apply to our business? DTC in medicine is not a crime, as some would have us believe.

Frederic Porcase Jr., DO, Jacksonville, Fla.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/10/13/edlt1013.htm.