Solution: rescind the medical licenses of physicians who are found to sign these advert-articles they don't write.

Another solution, have Medical Schools independent of Pharmaceudical Company Dollars .

There is a conflict of interest here. Drug studies and prescription practices are contaminated by pharma dollars and such studies and practices are then and taught at medical schools, also funded by pharma dollars.

And we wonder why we are over-medicated?

When faculty members taking money from pharma are teaching at medical schools one tends to question if we have the bigger picture with respects to modern medicine. "You have an ailment? Here take this".

This is a big part of why (yes, keep the hippy comments coming) if I have non-threatening medical issues I do try alternative treatments first, before prescription drugs.

For example, I was taking all this allergy medication once and wound up with side effects, and then given more pills...on and on. I was told by a friend of mine that Panothetic Acid and vitamin B (and yes, you have to be careful with vitamin’s too, but my doctor at Kaiser was really cooperative about me wanting to try something besides drugs and helped me with the dosages) were really good for allergies so that, in combination with local honey - worked like a charm. I have had ZERO allergies in the last 2 years (and I had them ever since I was seven years old - hospitalized once a year). It could just be mind over matter, or that my body changed...yes, but why take these things if you don't NEED them. And how would I have known if I didn't try it?

The body, if healthy and well nourished, has an incredible ability to heal itself.

If I had something like cancer? Absolutely I would be taking drugs and treatments under a doctor's direct care. But for simple stuff, it’s a last measure.

Oh, I was hospitalized once a year in childhood because they triggered asthma attacks. They became less severe and more of a miserable annoyance as I got older . Just to clarify.

Clearly what we need to do to solve this problem is to take decisions out of the hands of easily-swayed consumers and put them into the hands of government bureaucrats.

I'm in doctors offices a lot, and I always get a little peeved when the pharma representative come by with their giant bags of free samples and catalogs and documents.

About two weeks ago two women came into my neurologist's office to try to foist off some free samples. The receptionist told them that the doctors were busy and didn't want to see them, and also that they didn't want any free samples because they didn't feel that the drug had enough evidence proving its effectiveness. I could tell this had been going on for some time, because the representatives complained about never being called back by the office manager and how everyone was avoiding them. Once the receptionist told them they didn't want the samples, they started hauling out all of these flyers and pamphlets that supposedly proved how great the drugs were, etc. The receptionist accepted them, but said that the doctors had already read research themselves and had made a decision, then kicked them out.

It made me feel a lot better about my doctor. I was struck by how really pushy these ladies were though. The whole thing took almost a whole 30 minutes, and they even came back again after being shown the door, to leave more cards and pamphlets.

I remember reading an article you posted some time ago Amy, about doctors getting wined and dined from these drug reps. We need to make that illegal. I also agree we need to somehow have a restriction on doctors signing documents they didn’t write. They could easily get around it by just having the papers “presented” by a doctor, but at least it would be more honest.

FTA: "The filter is missing when the reader does not know that the germ of an article came from the manufacturer..."

It sounds like a helluva lot more than just a "germ" coming from the manufacturer. Honestly, this is the most corrupt industry I can think of, other than lawyering. I mean, there seems to be no one policing these things! I work for the city government (via the library, which is a city entity), and we have TONS of rules about accepting donations, gifts, and what kind of volunteer work we can allow. But apparently, in the medical/pharmaceutical field, no one gives a damn. Terrifying. I'm with Feebie, too. I've seen EVERY member of my immediate family put on anti-depressants. no exaggeration. That's terrifying to me, and why I go to the doctor only when I KNOW I have a problem and what they will likely give me to treat it (ie: antibiotics, or ear drops). I've been known to argue at the drop of a hat with my OB/GYN over different kinds of birth control, seeing as how my body doesn't seem to like the stuff very much, and I'm determined to find something that WORKS without the nasty side effects.

cornerdemon - no kidding, BC pills really fouled me up. The thing is, it's so hit and miss. Some of my friends have had really wonderful results on some of the meds that gave me problems.

I just decided that it was time to take responsibility for my health and not just hand that over to a doctor blindly.

First thing I did was journal about diet, moods, ailements, and went from there. I brought it all to my next doctors appointment.

I was lucky because my doctor, while she went to med school in the US but was born in India. A lot of the rural folks there rely heavily on herbal remedies and diet because healthcare can be scarce. So she really was able to help me with that, as well as let me know what to look for in case I should be put on prescripts. She had even shared with me that she wished more of her patients were open to trying these things for minor problems (but also warned about many snakeoil salespeople).

So far so good.

She wasn't a homeopath or herbologist..she was a doctor. But her education combined with her life experience was invaluable. I think she is a fantastic doctor. I am very pleased.

I volunteered on the UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative committee here in Japan in the early 90s and you wouldn't believe how hard it was to kick just formula manufacturers out of the hospitals (although they are sometimes also drug companies, Meiji for one). It's not until a lot of hospitals started the application process that they realized how many freebies they were getting (pens, paper, pencil/pen holders, paper clips in cases,tongue depressors all emblazoned with the company names), how far into the daily hospital atmosphere these companies' advertising had infiltrated.