Posted on 04/26/2005 6:20:13 PM PDT by MisterRepublican
Primary-care doctors are easily persuaded to prescribe antidepressants -- even unnecessarily -- when a patient mentions having seen television advertisements for them, researchers reported Tuesday. .
In an unusual experiment in which actresses posed as mildly depressed patients who did not need medication, doctors were five times more likely to write them prescriptions when an ad for a specific drug was mentioned.
Drug companies spend roughly $3 billion a year on direct-to-consumer advertising, fomenting sharp debate over how much sway the advertisements have over doctors. The study showed the effect is significant.
"When patients ask for a drug, they tend to get a drug regardless of whether it is appropriate for them," said Joel Weissman, a health-policy expert at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the research. "That is a fascinating finding."
Surveys have shown that in up to 7 percent of doctor visits, a patient requests a prescription based on an ad -- a rate that experts say can significantly boost sales.
In the study, published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the patients were actresses all playing the same part: a 45-year-old divorcee who had recently lost her job and was suffering from stress, fatigue and back pain. Those are symptoms of adjustment disorder, a mild, event-induced depression in which medications are thought to be of little value.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Wow, imagine that! You advertise a product and suddenly people feel a need for that product - pure rocket science here! Just one more slice of the dysfunctional health care system pie.
"When patients ask for a drug, they tend to get a drug regardless of whether it is appropriate for them,"
Oh dear, we can't have the peons making their own decisions about what drugs to try, now can we? Given that doctors now spend about 10 minutes with each patient, it's a safe bet that, on average, a reasonably intelligent and college educated patient has at least as good judgment as the doctor as to "whether it is appropriate for them". I mean, we're talking about anitdepressants here, not OxyContin or newer antibiotics that need to be reserved for severe antibiotic-resistant infections on public health grounds.
Well.....my story is the Rheumatologist I saw was REALLY excited about me getting FREE Humera - you know....one of those advertised everywhere with all the side effects? He claimed he could get me in a study of some sort.....of course, I was NOT sure I had Rheumatoid Arthritis (I still do not think I do (likely Lyme disease) - 4 months later).....but, he did tell me I'd be spending $10,000 a year on drugs.....I fired him. I use a simple/cheap antibiotic and aspirin....
Another example of patient-knows-best.
Yep...I forgot....I insisted he prescribe the antibiotic, BEFORE I fired him.....
Yep...I forgot....I insisted he prescribe the antibiotic, BEFORE I fired him.....
Yep...I forgot....I insisted he prescribe the antibiotic, BEFORE I fired him.....
SHEESH....I have REALLY got a problem with IE these days........wish they had a MED for THAT!!!!
Hey, no problem with that. Except that the same peons, a year from now, are going to be responding to that next set of ads that say, "Ever take Vioxx? Ever feel sick?? Then dial 1-800-DIRTBAG and SUE THE BASTARDS!!!!"
SHEESH....I have REALLY got a problem with IE these days........wish they had a MED for THAT!!!!
Doesn't the fact that they were actresses set off any alarms? They had a role that they were playing to the hilt. I'm sure the doctors may have been taken in by how depressed the women came across.
As far as advertisements go, I think people have the right to know about the newest things. I think a lot of chronically depressed people don't really realize it because they are so used to life being a shade of gray. Sometimes, these ads make you reflect.
Those suits should be tossed out of court promptly. But it makes little difference whether taking a certain drug was the patient's idea or a doctor's. Most of those suits concern drugs that were prescribed at the doctor's suggestion.
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