A majority of physicians give patients what they request:
The survey questioned 335 doctors and 39,090 U.S. residents. It found that 78% of PCPs received patient requests for specific drugs they have seen advertised on television and that 67% reported they sometimes grant the requests.
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The synopsis of the study said that 67 percent of physicians *sometimes* prescribe what the patient asks for.
So how often is “sometimes”? 20 percent of the time? 80 percent of the time?
I note the study apparently does not address how many of these drug requests are appropriate.
Spin, spin, spin.
The people who write on medical topics for the newspapers often have precious little medical knowledge, but adequate writing skills.
DTC ads are shown to get people in to their doctor. It’s the doctor’s responsibility to tell the patient why a particular product is NOT appropriate for them.
It does make more work for the physician, but it results from the patient taking more responsibility for his own health care.
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