When is the last time you had samples of bactrim or doxy to give out? Unless your “inner city pharmacy” is giving out the meds. I don’t have that luxury.

“Giving away sample medication for illnesses that cant be cured (e.g. diabetes, HTN, etc) is unethical because it forces others to pay for the meds and increases healthcare costs as a whole while providing little aggregate benefit to the recipients of the free drugs.”

So you are saying when someone who walks in the door with continued BP’s of 180/110 in which HCTZ hasn’t touched, they can’t afford a B-blocker or an ACE and I should just say “screw you”? You clearly don’t practice medicine.

Giving away sample medication for illnesses that cant be cured (e.g. diabetes, HTN, etc) is unethical because it forces others to pay for the meds and increases healthcare costs as a whole while providing little aggregate benefit to the recipients of the free drugs.

These samples are not “free” after all. Pharma companies calculate how many free samples they will give away that year and incorporate that cost into the price for the medication. They arent giving away anything for free and youd better not be naive enough to believe they are taking it out of the CEO’s bonus

I work at an inner city hospital where drug companies are banned. We don’t give away free samples of “Ketek”
to the homeless. We still use meds like Doxy and Bactrim. We also have EXTREMELY low rates of resistance against pathogens. I think this is more than just a coincidence.

In short, we live in a world innundated by advertisements. Drugs reps are part of that world – one that thinks it must CONSTANTLY market its product. Drug reps aren’t going anywhere; they’re here to stay. And if a few med students get a free lunch or 2 out of them, so be it. I know very few practicing docs who base their prescribing on what drugs reps told them in med school. And if some day that med student becomes a resident and writes for something too expensive or “out there,” an attending will comment on it.

Going hungry is the med students’ way of “fighting the system” – it’s a phase that will pass.

http://doctorrw.blogspot.com/2006/01/amsa-claims-to-take-moral-high-ground.html

jb,
Yes, it is moral preening. Aptly put.

Anonymous #2,
Strong words. Care to identify yourself?

You are a clueless prostitute. I can say that because I am a doctor.

I am a urologist in a 9 urologist group who often get free smaples and 1-2 lunches per week for our office.

We also perform clinical studies that are sponsored by drug companies.

I for one, think drug reps do far more good than harm.

I have only been in practice 3 years, but think the appropriate backlash against industry dates back to the free trips, free cars, and other outrageous gifts from the distant past.

Most physicians are too busy to find out about drugs from independent resources.

If none of the docs took any free stuff, there would be tens of thousands of reps out of a job.
Drug sales would go down since docs wouldnt know about them.
Money for R&D would go way down, as would profits.
New drugs would be rare.

I challenge these students to explain what would happen in an “ideal world” where docs completely shunned industry.
I think that world would be far worse then what we have now.

Other sources of “drug money” are CME sponsored events and conferences, as well as other educational events that docs need and money might not otherwise be there for.