I came across this letter a urologist writes to a politician, who criticized doctors for accepting drug-sponsored lunches:
Your quote makes reference to the influence they have on us to use their drugs. Are you so naive to believe that a turkey wrap or a piece of dried out chicken parmesan will make us use a drug which we do not feel will be beneficial to our patients? Why is it legal for the airlines to give frequent flier miles for inducement to people to use that airline or for the restaurants who provide these Doctor lunches to have “frequent buyer” programs where “each dollar spent earns points that can be exchanged for movie tickets, gift certificates to Home Depot or Nordstrom or an ‘executive spa treatment,’” for the Reps who buy them? Should I believe that the junkets to Scotland for your colleagues to play golf, the lavish dinners they throw for members of Congress, the free airplane tickets or Super Bowl tickets, etc., do not influence you and your votes? Are you getting your information from, as you said, those “objective sources, the highly paid lobbyist?” How can you be so self-righteous? I am so insulted by your comments.
