from today’s Washington Post:
“…I knew that I had felt pressured by him to take medications. When I found that he had been paid six times my yearly salary to work for the manufacturers of those same drugs, my loss of faith was complete … having MS is difficult enough. The last thing I needed was to worry about whether my neurologist was acting in my best interest…”
Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer
videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer
True story. My husband used to take meds for acid reflex. So one day he goes to his gastro doc and the doctor changes his brand. When asked why, the doc who is also a friend, hence his honesty, said that essentially the two brands did the same thing, but the company of the new brand he was recommending was paying him $10k a year. Husband no longer sees that doctor.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I managed a 6 doctor neuro practice for over 4 years & although there was a lot of pressure from drug companies, my doctors had reasons for using different MS drugs on different patients & no amount of money, or perks, got in the way of that.
ReplyDeleteI own stock in the company that produces what I believe to be the best overall drug for MS~ sometimes my docs used that drug & at other times they used different ones, it depended on the patient & the patient's situation & tolerance. They also provided each patient( & family) with a large amount of info on different MS drugs, including videos, toll free numbers & even day seminars. The patient or the patient's family made the final decision...as I did for the short amount of time that I was mis-diagnosed as having MS. ~Mary
I saw this and I could have and SHOULD have written it 9 years ago. Have now left THREE neuros due to this. Only two left in Seattle who I am sure (as far as I can research) are 'clean.' I try out one of them on my next appt in 2012.
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