By Michael Dorausch, D.C.
Los Angeles – Much has happened since I published an article last Monday (MD’s Say NO To Drug Advertising) and stated that the MDs involved were inspiring. The article was followed on Thursday by a second article (MD’s Say YES To Drug Advertising) which included excerpts from a Public Service Announcement (PSA) authored by Dr. Bob Sottile in the 1980’s. I have been responding to numerous emails regarding the article and the PSA since.
First the Medical Doctors…
For MDs to reach a point where they are publicly making statements requesting bans on prescription drug advertising for television, newspapers, and magazines, suggests to me that there is a serious problem.
Apparently, the original news release on Monday came from the first day of the American Medical Association’s five-day annual meeting. I would imagine that since this issue had been brought up it must surely have concerned many medical practitioners. It was a medical doctor that stated, “ads by their nature are biased and compressed and are driven more by drug companies’ financial concerns than by concern for the patients’ best interest.”
Somewhere in the collective group of doctors gathered for this meeting was an individual or individuals who wanted to “do the right thing.” However, what the AMA had decided instead to do was ask that drug companies “voluntarily” include information in advertising that would display language telling patients that medical doctors may recommend other or more appropriate treatment options rather than what’s being advertised. The collective consciousness takes over and the individual is lost.
These folks have been squashed by an entity that quite possibly has other agendas more valuable to them than serving “best interests” which involve the health and welfare of Americans.
If drug advertising was no longer on television, in newspapers and magazines, would people take less drugs? If people took less drugs, would there be less visits to medical doctors? If there were less visits to medical doctors would medical doctors notice a decrease in income? Are medical doctors with lower income more likely or less likely to pay dues to organizations such as the American Medical Association?
And what about the pharmaceutical industry? Do they really want to go up against them? When I say “they” I mean the AMA, not the individual medical doctor that is attempting to do the right thing and wants to better serve his/her patients. Those individuals should be recognized, for they are the ones that will eventually lead to change in their industry.
What is our role in all of this? I have received many emails from chiropractors across the globe that would like to re-introduce Bob Sottile’s PSA. I have updated most of the statistics (what you saw published was from about 20 years ago) and the numbers are enough to make one numb.
There will be much more news coming on this issue.
And the numbers?
From the PSA: 7.7 million are victims of Diabetes
6/2001: Approximately 16 million Americans have Diabetes (American Diabetes Association)
From the PSA: 4.5 million children suffer with chronic sinusitis
1996 Figures: 33 million Cases of Chronic Sinusitis Reported Annually in the U.S. (all ages)
(Vital and Health Statistics Series 10, No. 200)
(1996) Heart Disease Cases Reported Annually: 21 million (all cases for U.S.)
(Vital and Health Statistics Series 10, No. 200)
planetc1.com-news @ 9:28 am | Article ID: 993832126
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