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from the how-will-we-find-the-newest-ED-drugs dept.
AP reports that the American Medical Association has called for a ban on direct-to-consumer ads for prescription drugs and implantable medical devices, saying they contribute to rising costs and patients' demands for inappropriate treatment. According to data cited in an AMA news release, ad dollars spent by drugmakers have risen to $4.5 billion in the last two years, a 30 percent increase. Physicians cited concerns that a growing proliferation of ads is driving demand for expensive treatments despite the clinical effectiveness of less costly alternatives. "Today's vote in support of an advertising ban reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices," said AMA Board Chair-elect Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A. "Direct-to-consumer advertising also inflates demand for new and more expensive drugs, even when these drugs may not be appropriate."
The AMA also calls for convening a physician task force and launching an advocacy campaign to promote prescription drug affordability by demanding choice and competition in the pharmaceutical industry, and greater transparency in prescription drug prices and costs. Last month, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report saying that a high cost of prescription drugs remains the public's top health care priority. In the past few years, prices on generic and brand-name prescription drugs have steadily risen and experienced a 4.7 percent spike in 2015, according to the Altarum Institute Center for Sustainable Health Spending.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday November 18 2015, @08:27PM
Read the by-lines on Mayo and webmd, and you often find they are the same bunch of doctors.
And when they are, some of the articles are almost word for word the same.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday November 19 2015, @07:09AM
OMG! frojack has lifted the veil! All our doctors are actually Robots! It's just like in the end of the Star Wars before the suck, when Luke got his hand fixed by that droid doctor. Of course that was well before Luke was delivered by a droid doctor, and well before, or actually about the same time as his Father was patched together by, yet again!!! droid doctors, and put into a suit so he could have a very deep and breathy voice, which was important for the future of the force ----franchise, I meant.
Medical doctors are not doctors. We have known this since Aristotle. He came over from the dark side, but retained many of its qualities. The Latin root of "docta" is "teach". Medical people have not always been called doctors, since they often did not teach at all, and had very little learning to draw on, in any case. They were called "physcians", or "barbers". Blood-letters, hacks, quacks, and Ben Carson. That last bit was uncalled for, but couldn't help it. Plato famously said that when a physcian is more interested in collecting fees than practicing medicine, we should refer to them as a "fee-collector" rather than a doctor. And of course, pharmacy has never been a reputable profession: "pharma" is Greek for poison. Now we know. Do not let these bastards advertise. And get the god-damned lawyers off the TV and internets. Not to mention "Cancer Clinics"! Do you have some retirement money left and want a second opinion before your inevitable and painful demise? Oh, those guy are the worst. They are like the Daesh of Medicine! To all these drug dealers, I hope you die of the disease you are pandering to to make your living, because that would be justice. Ironic justice, but justice none the less. And at least we would not have to listen to you or wonder about what we actually should ask our doctor about. Assuming he is a real doctor, and not a pharma shill, or jmorris.