Doctors Influenced By Mention Of Drug Ads | WP | 4.27.05
Offbeat Study Finds Familiar Brand Name Can Evoke Diagnosis
Actors pretending to be patients with symptoms of stress and fatigue were five times as likely to walk out of doctors’ offices with a prescription when they mentioned seeing an ad for the heavily promoted antidepressant Paxil, according an unusual study being published today.
The study employed an elaborate ruse — sending actors with fake symptoms into 152 doctors’ offices to see whether they would get prescriptions. Most who did not report symptoms of depression were not given medications, but when they asked for Paxil, 55 percent were given prescriptions, and 50 percent received diagnoses of depression.
The study adds fuel to the growing controversy over the estimated $4 billion a year the drug industry spends on such advertising. …
What they failed to report is that their Press Ganey scores improved markedly.
2 Comments
This is a more sophisticated practice than the traditional practice of snake oil salesmen but if my doctor does that to me, I’d think him no better. They get a commission, I think.
It’s unethical but not malpractice. But the effect is something else. These doctors are giving their power to prescribe healing medications to the big pharmas; it’s not like selling your vote, but it is selling your professionalism.
This is a more sophisticated practice than the traditional practice of snake oil salesmen but if my doctor does that to me, I'd think him no better. They get a commission, I think.
It's unethical but not malpractice. But the effect is something else. These doctors are giving their power to prescribe healing medications to the big pharmas; it's not like selling your vote, but it is selling your professionalism.