[Kozak]

Probably cuz he knew he and his colleagues were over prescribing the ecisting drugs to anyone with a cold (which is not helped by antibiotics anyway).

Yeah because
1. Patients demand it. You can explain till you are blue in the face that it's most likely a virus and antibiotics won't help, and they still demand it. If you don't give it to them they call you a quack, go to another who will prescibe it, and when they get better, attribute it to the antiobiotic.

2. We get sued if we don't. Even if there is no evidence an antibiotic would have made a difference.

3. People bitch on their "patient satisfaction surveys". In the ER we now get rated like car salesmen by surveys. If we don't give them EXACTLY what they want, we get hammered on the surveys, and can loose our jobs.

Lots of people have had a hand in screwing this pooch.

[Pessimist]

Whoa, doc...

Along with your authority comes responsiblity.

The last time I checked, it was your responsibility to prescribe wisely and in accordance with you training.

Not because you might lose business or get called a quack or get a bad review.

And I think you’re being disengenuous re the lawsuits. So, somebody has a cold or virus, you don’t prescrive antibiotics, and you get sued?

Let’s be honest here....

I think it is the nature of people in the med profession to want to help people. At the end of a visit, you crave the gratitude of the patient for doing so. When faced with approbation instead, you cave.