Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler J.P.'s office

Ha Ha! Good one.

Word in the office is that we're getting soup and salad for lunch from a new drug rep.

I smell the meddling hand of Ken, I tells ya.

Ew, I wouldn't want to smell Ken's hand.

I washed them.

Two weeks ago doesn't count.

Soup smells good. This may not be a total loss.

*wanders off to break room

No wonder meds cost so much. Add the cost of a free lunch to each pill...

Yeah, I get a kick out of how little old ladies in Luray are paying for my paninis.

Seriously, it does come to mind a little. The rationalization is that information does get exchanged, I get a chance to ask questions and learn from them while they try to market to me. They also drop off samples that I give to needy patients.

Actually, a much bigger factor in drug costs is the direct-to-consumer advertising that is everywhere. That's where the lion's share of their marketing dollars go.

"Do you sometimes feel down, or tired, or hungry? You don't have to deal with these so-called normal emotions anymore. Ask your doctor about Wellbutrinialisloft - an unselective everything-uptake inhibitor... after all, who do you trust - this commercial or your family physician? If he doesn't give you a prescription for it, call him a quack and see new doctors until you find one that's our b!tch and a glorified drug pusher. Side effects are many and have nothing in common with placebo tests including death, near death, fatal death, and expiration of life. Wellbutrinialisloft is not for everyone, some people with conditions such as poverty should not take Wellbutrinialisloft. Isn't your life worth not feeling highs and lows? Keep a steady keel with Wellbutrinialisloft - the lobotomy in a bottle."

Bren R.

I prefer "consultant" or "member of the speaker's bureau" to b!tch, but I say potayto, you say potahto ... I am currently chewing on whether to continue in this respect. It's good money, but just a small fraction relative to my practice revenue, to keep it in perspective. If I thought it was compromising my decision-making regarding patient prescriptions, I wouldn't do it. There have been opportunities to work with medications and companies that I think are not worthy, and I've turned them down.

Dan Carlat, MD has a nice blog in which he speaks of this topic, especially as to how the drug companies have undue influence over continuing medical education (CME). There's a bill in Congress that hopes to out the b!tches. link