No Free Lunch

[oursmedicina]

Great video, well done Monica...courageous to try to document this!

[robrigo80]

no free lunch is such a joke. Holyier than thou bullshit hippies who hate capitalism and love the socialist agenda. go f$#@ yourself.

[oursmedicina]

So we don't need to regulate pharma? The US sadly profits from disease while others profit from preventing disease

[HolySpringRolls]

stupid capitalists.

[oursmedicina]

ha educate doctors by giving them coffee mugs and pens? better way to educate them are by journals not by giving gifts

[oursmedicina]

wow, citygirl -- so many replies... i wonder who you work for?

[Matanumi]

love the ending- symbolic

[rwhite1012]

Pharma is the most over regulated industry in the country. Doctors do not have the time or inclination to read up about all the new drugs that come to market, so reps do serve a purpose. The lunches and dinners are NOT the invention of drug companies. They have become the only and often demanded way to see the doctor and most time you end up feeding overweight and ungreatful office staff!! Almost every bit of medical research is possible due to drug company grants, medicine is a business!

[orangenapple]

Pharma companies are like any other profit making organisation. It is naive for anyone to expect them to give away items expecting nothing in return. For any doctor to get a pen and be expected to write out a script is ludicrous. It doesn't happen. These are educated people and the information they receive or are told is, of course, going to show the drug in it's best light. It is a responsibility upon the doctor to be more thorough and ask questions to uncover everything about a drug.

[leigja3]

Pharm companies sponsor conferences not to help educate physicians but rather to expose their drug to doctors. If anyone says that pharm companies care about patients more than profit they are either greatly disillusioned or a pharm rep

[onehotdogplease]

At 4:02...is that Jack Nicholson in the background?

[milkymike375]

no, its me, and my balls hurt very much at the time

[RxFuller]

So let me get this straight...An MD/DO who does not receive drug pens, note pads, kleenex has no biases? Really???? Are you sure??? Everyone has bias about everything, and with the HMO pressures on MDs today, reps are vital to bringing up to date info to MDs. MDs don't have time to read every NEJM that is published, or attend every CME event. Yes, there are crooks that sell pharmaceuticals, but there are also crooks that are doctors, and crooks in every profession.

[kaalfoetertjie]

...and what is with all the negative comments? Are people so ignorant about medicine that they truly think this is not a serious matter?

Of course doctors should be kept up to date about new meds, but if the same bisoprolol comes out in 20 different new more expensive brands...it might become hard to choose from which brand did the nicest gift come from. Think about that.

[oneundergod1]

note atrains[below response [also note he used a new id to post his rebuttal

adverse drug reaction[from perscribed drugs kills 3 jumbo jets equivilent [each day in usa alone ,sick food is making us sick ,eating fresh food and vegetables, would send many of these legal drug merchants broke [that aint going to happen though , then we go to placebo affect [over 50 percent attributed , but how many of the claimed cure

[atrain84]

this is complete crap. many docs HATE direct to consumer marketing. good reps educate docs and those that tell the truth are respected.

[TimP229]

The pharma industry is the 2nd most regulated industry behind nuclear. Are docs are so stupid as to give bad patient care b/c of a pen? When you med student clowns ever get a real job and hospital privileges, storm into hospital admin and DEMAND they stop marketing to the community because that money could be better spent on indigent care. Clue: sales and marketing are in EVERY industry, call it capitalism. If you ever pass your boards, move to Cuba since you're so clueless about a free market.

[Matanumi]

what free market?

[stormbugs]

It's not just about free pens and pads. What people don't know is that pharmaceutical company gifts were even more extravagent before government law stated that they could not be over a certain $ amount. These day, pharmaceutical companies give doctors' their continuing education courses on cruise ships and vacation destination locations. Of course doctors are influenced by these companies whether they admit it or not.

[amber95608]

WHAT A JOKE, YOU PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!!!!!

[fishtownbuff]

I hope the maker of this video never gets sick or better yet a family member. Another thing Jerk off, lets look at the doctors that see reps and the doctors that do not like in Princeton and see if there is a higher number of deaths buy the hands of the know it all doctors that do not see reps.hmmmm I wonder why Princeton Hospt is rank as one of the worst places in New Jersey to have a MI. Could it be that their using meds 20 years old and have not learned about the newer meds.

[kliaj]

i was a pharma rep (definately not proud of it) and am now in medical school, the dissolution of the pharma rep. would save billions of dollars per year not to mention saving time to treat more patients and space, have you seen the mess and clutter of a sample closet

[genejunior]

Nice Job! maybe with the settlement $ from the Nuerontin case, the noise level will increase and more medical schools will go compeltely Pharm Free!

[tessierbob]

We pay for lunch because that is what the office wants. And as far as keeping medical schools pharma free, what will they teach in pharmacy class? How can you prepare a doctor for real life if you don't teach them about the latest therapies in the field. Remember that little oath you swear to "above all do no harm". Would using a subpar generic like lovastatin be better to prescribe than say Lipitor. You should be ashamed of yourself and maybe medical school isn't for you.

[fishtownbuff]

thats a really good idea..Pharma Free. Lets not teach docs about anything new becasue who needs that. new cancer drug, new MI drug,naaa the ones work well now. patients don't want a longer life span

[slvthms]

You're missing the point. No one's saying "don't teach doctors," they're saying, "don't put drug education in the hands of drug salesmen." What you get is marketing disguised as education.

[dandownunder19]

America is home of the free and democracy and capitalism. you can't have one set of rules for one and then decide, you can't use that model for this industry or that industry. Go and live in a communist country, lets hope you don't have cancer or hiv, i wouldn't hold your breath for a new therapy... idiots

[slvthms]

What you don't seem to understand is that the drug industry in this country IS ALREADY socialized. Almost all innovative drug research in this country (HIV and cancer research being good examples) is done at research hospitals with government grants (i.e., taxpayer funded socialized medicine). Drug companies then buy the patents and spend millions to protect and expand their exclusive use - again no free market. You need to understand how the system works before calling others idiots, my friend.

[dandownunder19]

the maker of this video has used personal quotes from people quoting 'facts' and 'statistics' that are unreferenced and are actually serving her/his purpose just as much as the complaint that business influences its customers. She/he is manipulating you with this propaganda as well, where is the proof or study that shows a lousy pen changes what prescriptions a drs writes?? what no study I hear?

[KungFu17]

this is one of the largest problems in medicine...and I think advertising is ruining our society all around. what we EAT is equally as bad as a result of ads - or worse, as those are now practically drugs as well. too bad we don't believe in prevention.

[ignorancekiller]

Thanx for posting this. Helpful stuff.

[mcgrawmg]

if youe doctor uses a drug based on getting a pen from a drug rep, find another doctor. And, if you are a doctor and feel you have to "pay back" a drug rep because they bought you dinner.... get a backbone. It's called marketing. Every company in America markets their products.

[KungFu17]

good ideal, the problem is that people aren't strong enough to have this backbone - this should be made clear by the fact that over half of america is obese because they eat based on advertisements. are doctors really exempt from this or are they just people too? and anyway, our form of democracy doesn't allow people to speak - just "interests" like drug companies...it's a battle based on logistics alone...on a mass scale alone would the responsible doctor's decision matter.

[cale399]

liberals

weak wanna-be docs they will not write more for a f'in pen

[mcgrawmg]

nice