Opinion
Let physicians decide individually how to decipher drug marketing
LETTER — Posted Oct. 13, 2008
Regarding "Group wants doctors to boast of refusing to see drug reps" (AMNews, Aug. 18): First came the no free lunch, then no free pens, papers or pads to use in your office. Now I see another controlled mechanism working throughout our country. In medicine, let's control everyone and everything.
I have been a general family practice physician, MD, for 30 years. I have always enjoyed speaking to these young people, as they are very fresh and give me their point of view of their medication. I can use my years of experience to decipher what they have told me and decide if that is going to be a medicine in my practice or not. I also enjoy them giving me samples. I use these sample medications on patients for at least the first month to see if they can tolerate them. By doing so, it costs patients nothing except their office visit.
To doctors who do not see drug reps, because they rely on scientific information, not marketing, to decide what is best, I would like to point out all the free journals that we receive that have wonderful articles. They are published because they have all these razzle-dazzle "deceptive" marketing ads.
Ronald L. Hill, MD, Carnegie, Okla.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/10/13/edlt1013.htm.
