honesty on the rocks and make it a double

This article in today's Washington Post,"Probing Doctors' Ties to Industry" is an interesting article discussing asking your doctor if he/she has financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

I am shocked to read:

"Seventy-eight percent believed that accepting gifts from the pharmaceutical industry influences their doctors' prescribing habits, but only 34 percent said they would be likely to ask their doctors about potentially troubling financial ties."

If you are not going to ask your doctor if they have a financial vested interested in the pharmaceutical companies, then you don't care about honesty, truth and ethics in your health care.

I waste no time asking my psychiatrist, who is assisting me remove the last of the Xanax if he has pharma-reps, ties, or anything else influence him in his daily practice of dispensing medications for psychiatric care. At one point it was an enlightened discussion for him, as he openly admitted that he didn't really notice that he (for example, that day) had prescribed Lexapro and even offered it to me, (I declined and began this discussion)after a drug rep had been in the office dropping off Lexapro samples and goodie bags.

"Is the pharma rep a good-looking woman"? I asked.

"Well, yes." he said.

"Do you realize that you've just offered me Lexapro after she was here?"

"What?...well I never thought about it, you're right I guess it does have an influence."

A few weeks later he tells me that pharma reps were no longer accepted in the multi-doctor practice, and no samples would be given out as a result. The waiting room that was loaded with DTC literature (that I always cleared)was now empty, void of DTC ads and notepads and CD's for ADHD meds, etc. all that was left was a few benign magazines. We've had some great conversations, and laughed heartily during them. He's a great, open-minded person, and encourages these discussions.

I don't know about you but I'd like to know if my doctor has a vested interest in what he is offering me with medications, or if he speaks for a drug company, and paid for it, hell, I'd love to find out if he had ghostwritten a publication, or pocketed pharma cash and not reported it. Grassley isn't the only one that wants transparency, it should be YOU.

Hit me again with a ton of bricks! the article quotes one of my almost favorite bloggers, practicing Psychiatrist and psychiatry newsletter publisher, Dr. Danny Carlat.

"Daniel Carlat, a Massachusetts-based psychiatrist, agrees the topic is sensitive. "When you are a patient, the last thing you want to do is alienate your doctor or cause any negativity," he said."

Sorry, Danny, I love commenting on your blog, reading your blog, but I guess I would and definitely risk alienating you, if you were my doctor.

I've always asked questions in my life, and take nothing at face value. Thus, my blog. Digging into the how and why the pharma industry has political power, control over the FDA (influence)and the Zyprexa documents exposed that loud and clear for many activists, like me.

To find documents at Furious Seasons that expose Lilly's knowledge of diabetes as a side effect of Zyprexa use, and Lilly sold it anyway, as well as the FDA continuing to approve it for use (in teens for example) is reason enough to stop and wonder, ask and decide to take a med that could have compromised approval by the FDA.

If my doctor was a paid speaker for a drug such as Effexor (which Carlat was)I would want to know then, and now. Danny Carlat counter-details Effexor now, by going back to the places he once promoted the drug (the doctors) and now tells the honest truth about the drug, so he claims. He wrote about it, find that in his archives.

What if you discovered that your doctor was a paid speaker for a drug he offered or prescribed for you? what would you do?

Be direct. Ask the questions, and if the doctor doesn't like it, or won't reply then find another one.

It's a fair question to ask of someone you have hired and pay, expect nothing less than the truth.

AMSA Scorecard Check out the COI (conflict of interest)policies of academic medical centers. Link to the page from Dr.David Bransford,M.D. ,Psychiatry