In the Feb. 2^nd issue of the New York Times given to me, an edi­to­rial ques­tio­ned the prac­tice of doc­tors recei­ving gifts from the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal industry and medi­cal device manu­fac­tu­rers. The edi­to­rial desc­ri­bed how an article published in the Jour­nal of the Ame­ri­can Medi­cal Asso­cia­tion clearly sta­ted that current gui­de­li­nes against gifts, free sam­ples and pro­mo­tio­nal incen­ti­ves “are far too weak”, and these prac­ti­ces should be prohibited.

The Times edi­to­rial sta­ted that such pro­po­sals “are hardly one­rous,” and added, “It is long past time for lea­ding medi­cal ins­ti­tu­tions and pro­fes­sio­nal socie­ties to adopt stron­ger ground rules to con­trol the noxious influence of industry money on what doc­tors can presc­ribe for their patients”.

Sounds good, so far.

But the follo­wup Let­ter to the Edi­tor by Ken John­son, a senior vice pre­si­dent at the Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Research and Manu­fac­tu­rers of Ame­rica, was enough to make you puke.

He sta­ted that res­tric­ting the free sam­ples given to doc­tors would be “unfor­tu­nate and could nega­ti­vely affect patients who rely upon the $16 billion worth of medi­ci­nes dis­tri­bu­ted each year.”

Uhh, Mr. John­son, I don’t doubt that there are medi­ca­tions which save the life of many folks, and are bene­fi­cial. But the fact that patients “rely” on $16 billion worth of medi­ci­nes is a crock in itself, since SO many of those presc­ri­bed medi­ci­nes, like the lousy T4-only thy­roid medi­ca­tions, DON’T WORK, or cause side effects WORSE than the con­di­tion they were trea­ting. Addi­tio­nally, there are a plethora of natu­ral or safe sup­ple­ments which can create the same GOOD effect of some medi­ca­tions, WITHOUT the side effects. My hus­band, for exam­ple, used to be on Cele­brex, and now gets the same great relief by being on 2 cap­su­les of Gin­ger Root a day. He also used to be on Sta­tins, but now keeps his Cho­les­te­rol down by using ground Flax Seed and Flax oil.

Mr. John­son con­ti­nued it his reply: “We believe that phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies should not offer or pro­vide anything to doc­tors that would inter­fere with the inde­pen­dence of their presc­ri­bing prac­ti­ces,” but, “clearly, phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal mar­ke­ting bene­fits patients.” He conc­lu­des, “It also ena­bles doc­tors to learn about new the­ra­pies and diag­nos­tic tools,” and, in the end, “know­ledge is the best medi­cine of all.”

Mr. John­son, we as patients have seen it CLEARLY demons­tra­ted that your free sam­ples and incen­ti­ves DO INTERFERE with inde­pen­dent thin­king of our doc­tors. They give us the Synth­roid presc­rip­tions which you have so aptly pro­mo­ted, and we still have hypo symp­toms. When we com­plain of con­ti­nuing symp­toms, they throw out a cou­ple of those free anti-depressants you give them, with a presc­rip­tion to follow…or they cast out those presc­rip­tion papers for Sta­tins when our Cho­les­te­rol is too high from being on the infe­rior T4-only meds. Or they toss us a few pac­kets of anti-inflammatory meds when we ache and hurt from being on the infe­rior T4-only medi­ca­tions you pro­mo­ted like the ads on your free note­pads and pens.

And yes, know­ledge is the best medi­cine of all – know­ledge that many medi­ca­tions you blindly pro­mote have toxic side effects, or don’t work, or there are MUCH bet­ter alternatives.

Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal mar­ke­ting, Mr. John­son, has mostly bene­fit­ted the linings of your poc­kets, and has made thy­roid patients like us sic­ker, and has made our doc­tors robotic-thinking lac­keys who seem to think they are “doc­to­ring” when they throw us your latest pills. And that mind­less way of prac­ti­cing medi­cine is fai­ling the oath to “do no harm”.