I have a number of good friends who are doctors of one sort or another. Heck, my wife has a PhD. Even in Bush's America, where education is a sign of
"elitism" to be derided, not
achievement to be celebrated, the
MD and
PhD still carry weight in the realm of public opinion. That is why many companies gladly do all they can to influence people with letters after their names. They want to get credible support for their products by whatever means works.
Pharmaceutical companies regularly sponsor leading specialists with "generous fees to peddle influence" and promote drugs to the profession and the public, writes Moynihan.
Drug companies will pay influential doctors up to $400 an hour to act as key opinion leaders, and some doctors earn more than $25,000 a year in advisory fees. - Science Daily
I'm not against Doctors making money, nor am I opposed to companies hiring consultants to help evaluate their products. I
do worry about the impact of such fees on neutral evaluations, however. Fundamentally, experts trade on their expertise, which is manifested by reputation. When reputation is suborned to an agenda (whether for money, see
Cunningham, Duke, or out of misguided loyalty, see
Powell, Colin) and loses its independence, it becomes a tool of fraud and corruption far to quickly and easily.
According to Richard Tiner, medical director at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, although "the work might help to promote a particular medicine" it should be considered payment for work done, and not a bribe. The best antidote to concerns about independence would be more transparency--all company payments to speakers should be routinely disclosed at medical meetings, he adds.
But David Blumenthal, from Harvard University, believes that payments to key opinion leaders are not in the public interest or in the interests of the patients served by these doctors, and calls for a major cutback in industry influence over the medical profession and its education. - Science Daily
This is among the thousands of side symptoms and issues driving
health care reform. As we discuss
fixing America's health care system in the coming year, we should be sure to follow the money in our evaluations, to see who benefits from opposing a fix, and how.
2 comments:
Couldn't agree more. Speaking as a doctor, physician speakers that have big-pharma affiliations (the lists for one doc can range into the dozens or even hundreds) immediately kill their credibility. I personally can't stand the drug representatives hanging around us like well-informed poodles. The ones that seem to know everything about me and treat me like I'm their long-lost brother. If I wanted to be lobbied I would have gone into politics. Big pharma does wonderful things and deserves to profit from them, but they have WAY too much influence on every industry they touch.
This CBS story makes me sick (no punt intended) not only did they not report the facts, but again they are trying to drag negative information about Drug companies back into the main stream media. Without medications we would not be where we are today. Not all meds work they same for everyone. We as consumers need to be accountable for our own health and information. We also need to recognize Doctors are not God but are human beings and most of them have the best of intentions on treating patients carefully and properly. For CBS to report such a false story is totally irresponsible journalism. Pharmacuetical companies spend millions of dollars on research for old and new diseases and illnesses. When they do spend a little money on physicians to speak about their medications they are educating other physicians and practitioners on the best ways to treat these diseases. Physicians have the ability to write or not write prescriptions for any medications. So when they are well educated on the meds they can prescribe what they think is best for their patients. Patients need to take some accountability and watch for possible side effects and any thing that may cause concern and call their doctors immediately. If the patient isn't happy with the med they need to tell their doctor, if the doctor doesn't see any concern, the patient can find another doctor. Patients also can log onto medications' websites put up by the drug companies and do further research. Hello America! Get educated and don't just listen to mainstream media. Be careful CBS, I have a friend who works for a major network in advertising and you talk about buy offs and wining and dining. We never hear about how much money is spent on trying to get companies to advertise on your networks, do we? Also I know, main stream media networks charge a lot of money for pharmacuetical companies to advertise on your networks. So ask yourself CBS were is your paycheck coming from. Start reporting some real facts you idiots.
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