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Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

arstechnica.com

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Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#231

Post by brandonmenc »

ejstronge wrote: post #199
brandonmenc wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Family doctors are not likely to be treating a semi-rare condition. Really? I have family members with rare conditions - for example diverticul(it/os)is, which affects 0.74% of the population - and they don't see specialists. The family physician monitors it. And this is with a "Cadillac" insurance plan. I don't think every rare condition automatically gets you in with a specialist.

It likely sounds like a rare condition for you and your family members but that particular example happens to be something regularly discussed in first year medical school courses. See [1] for a discussion of how common this is. Also consider that a family practitioner might easily have 2,000 patients. Thus, she or he will likely have direct experience with diverticulitis. Further (and this is more inside baseball),…

> Incidentally, diverticulitis is a very American disorder, likely attributable to our eating habits. You and all other readers should be sure to include fiber in your diet.

The family member in question has eaten a near total vegetarian diet for most of their life, so fiber intake is not the problem in this case.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#232

Post by enraged_camel »

MichaelGG wrote: post #189
enraged_camel wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but I also don't think people should be free to buy any chemical at will. Alcohol is heavily regulated and still causes massive issues for society.

Alcohol is mostly regulated for taxation, not usage. (To the point of poisoning untaxed alcohol to make sure you get hurt if you sneak around the tax.)

Taxation is one reason. But we also regulate it so that only 21-and-over can buy it, that it can only be consumed in certain locations, and we also make illegal many activities that are performed while intoxicated.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#233

Post by [deleted] »

aianus wrote: post #211
toomuchtodo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This has positives, as consumers can be more active participants in their health, but can also lead to people shopping for doctors who will prescribe the drugs that they want based on flimsy research and marketing. Turns out, people suck at being intelligent healthcare consumers. Its not their fault though. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/upshot/why-consumers-often... http://www.nber.org/papers/w21160 Disclaimer:…

Have you ever lived in a country with single-payer healthcare? Let me tell you it's not all roses. - Months long waits for anything requiring a specialist unless you're literally about to die. - Arbitrary exclusions like dental and optical. - Doctors taking in ~50% of the entire provincial budget and whining that it's not enough. And at a typical tech worker salary this all this ends up being more expensive in additi…

[deleted]

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#234

Post by crusso »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #218
maerF0x0 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue the opposite. By creating a separate class of individual that receives information about medicines we obfuscate what the options are. Under the current model a doctor could say "You should take " and I would have little to no exposure to alternatives" . IMO the real issue is that advertising (not just pharmaceutical) is not very informative anymore, we need a return to fact based ads. No more "sexy" wom…

> information about medicines TV ads are not "information about medicines", that's just ridiculous. They are mind-games the advertisers play with potential customers in hope of squeezing more cash out of them. You want true information? Read peer-review studies. > Under the current model a doctor could say "You should take " and I would have little to no exposure to alternatives Right, 'cause doctors are evil like th…

You could say similar things about political ads. They're mind-games. Do we want to get rid of them too?

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#235

Post by girvo »

danieltillett wrote: post #219
Turbo_hedgehog wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you allow basically the same ad but disallow mention of any brand names - only the generic name or condition to be treated?

This is what we have in Australia. Vague ads talking about various diseases and advising you to talk to your doctor about your health problems.

"Nasal spray technology"

Honestly though, it's a good system. I can't actually tell you what brand that ad is for, but I do know that I can talk to my doctor about it if I have issues with PE!

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#236

Post by cperciva »

While I agree with the idea here, it's important to not take it too far. In Canada "advertising to patients" is interpreted to mean almost any communications at all -- including putting up websites with purely informational content. As a patient who sometimes needs information about drugs I'm already taking, this is not helpful. (Fortunately many such websites allow a "why yes, of course I'm a doctor" checkbox to get access to more medical information. But not all.)

I think disallowing "push" advertising while still allowing companies to make information available to patients who deliberately seek it out would be a good compromise.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#237

Post by colanderman »

nsxwolf wrote: post #93

These ads are one of the main reasons I became a cord cutter. I'm very happy they have not yet followed me onto any of the streaming services I use. They are the creepiest thing ever on television. The actors sit around dinner tables with family members speaking unnatural, FDA manipulated dialog ("Oh, I'm doing great, I've been taking Pradaxa for my afib, not caused by a heart valve problem!") Then you get the unendi…

> I'm very happy they have not yet followed me onto any of the streaming services I use.

Really? They're all over YouTube and Hulu. They even come in a special widget with tiny text automatically scrolling on the right half and the ad playing in the left half. Just as uninformative and prosaic as the over-the-air spots.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#238

Post by whyaduck »

jessriedel wrote: post #183
bcoates wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trucks? Last I researched this the Ford F150 and Dodge Ram -- popular, mainstream pickup trucks -- were by a large margin statistically among the least safe vehicles allowed on roads in America, compared across everything, not just in-class.

Doesn't really matter to my argument, but for fun: In general, heavier vehicles are vastly safer. If you raise the center-of-gravity off the ground a lot, and don't increase the weight much, it's probably possible to increase the roll-over risk enough to make you worse off. But if you look at the data, you see that the deadliest vehicles are mostly compacts, and the safest ones are mostly SUVs. http://www.thecarconne…

The numbers in that article (fatalities per vehicle model over a year) aren't terribly useful - fatalities per vehicle mile would have more value.

In the end, though, there's little doubt that the U.S. roads are the host of a vehicle size arms race - build in as many safety features as you like, a sub-compact car will still lose the inertia battle with a massive SUV (likely carrying a single passenger).

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#239

Post by Archio »

Yakimoto wrote: post #58
Archio wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sure that could bite me in the ass if something were to happen to me, but I'm comfortable with that risk Has it ever occurred to you don't have much control over that risk, and that you are a human being that like every other can become sick for no reason at all? > and have family to help me out Has it ever occurred to you that many people in the United States do not have family to help them out?

Has it ever occurred to you that you have a ton of control over your general health and can protect yourself from physical injury extremely well? Has it ever occurred to you that many people in the United State don't have legs?

I am in my early twenties. I exercise regularly, I don't drink to excess, I don't smoke, I eat well, and I don't do any dangerous activities. That means I probably won't break my leg or die of obesity-related conditions.

However, it damn well could be that I could get a disease or condition that no one can prevent. No one has any business pretending otherwise.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#240

Post by humanrebar »

smadge wrote: post #210
hammock wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony of wanting to ban Rx drug ads because they are creepy, is that it was regulations that made them creepy to begin with. (You seem aware of this already) There is an argument to be made for consumer advertising for a drug like Viagra. Without awareness that an effective treatment exists, patients with ED or another embarrassing condition are not likely to bring it up with their doctor on their own, thus resul…

Advertisements are very different than public service announcements.

What about Komen? There's definitely a blurry line in there with some nonprofits, especially if you count political and lobbying efforts.
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