The Doctor's Opinion - Listen with Caution to Direct-to-Consumer Advertising - by Nidal Harb, M.D., Cardiovascular Medicine, P.C., and a member of the Scott County Medical Society Executive Committee
(Posted 1/10/06) 

After a very long day of work, many people enjoy settling in to watch their favorite T.V. programs.  What do Dorothy Hammil, John Elway, Bob Dole and Ricky Williams have in common?  They are part of a large group of celebrities talking about medical conditions, and all want you to contact your health care provider and use the drug they are advertising.  They urge you to talk to your doctor about these conditions. 

The pharmaceutical industry captivates television viewers and periodical readers with their brightly colored advertisements and famous spokespeople.  While their intentions may be well meaning, what they really do is confuse patients and rob physicians of time.  Instead of discussing a change in diet to combat high cholesterol, we must spend time explaining to patients why they don't need a wildly advertised drug.  Instead of easily selecting the medication we feel is most appropriate for our patients, we are forced to contend with direct-to-consumer advertising convincing them one medication is clearly better than another. 

When did physicians lose their expertise and authority to Hollywood and the NFL?  When did direct-to-consumer advertising become an acceptable substitute for four years of medical school?  Why must we take time away from all-important patient education to try to convince patients we know which medication is best for them and which "conditions" need not be treated with pharmaceuticals? 

Direct-to-consumer advertising forces physicians to spend precious minutes with patients convincing them we know which treatment is right for them.  We choose medications based on the best possible outcome for individual patients.  One medication does not work for every patient with a given condition.  The most extensively advertised drug does not automatically mean it is the best.  While direct-to-consumer advertising may promote awareness of certain conditions and mitigate stigmas associated with others, it is time to put physicians back in charge of which medications are right for their patients.