A Spoonful of Sugar...

Just finished reading The Truth About Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It, by Dr. Marcia Angell (2005). She is a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, and packs a stringent attack against the pharmaceutical industry. After reading this and How Doctors Think (Dr. Jerome Groopman), I've decided the best method is to stay as healthy as possible. If you can avoid going to doctors and hospitals, do so. (Coincidentally, I've remembered to take my vitamins again).

Readers may have various responses to the above books--the negative reviews I've found come from The Wall Street Journal and National Review, and are decidedly predictable in their judgement. How uncreative we become when we fall into our biases and political preferences (all of us, not just those with predilections to the right).

Politics sometimes seem to fall away when things hit us individually, and so despite our political leanings, here are some questions Dr. Angell encourages patients to ask their doctors when they recieve a new prescription:

"What is the evidence that this drug is better than an alternative or some other approach to treatment? Has the evidence been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal? Or are you relying on info from drug company reps? If needed, ask for a specific reference to a journal or textbook.

Is this drug better only because it is given at a higher dose? Would a cheaper drug be just as effective if it were given at an equivalent does?

Are the benefits worth the side effects, the expense, and the risk of interactions with other drugs I take?

Is this a free sample? If so, is there a generic drug or an equivalent drug I can use that is cheaper with the free samples run out?

Do you have financial ties with the company that makes this drug? For example, do you consult for the company? Other than free samples, do you receive gifts from drug companies? Are you being paid to put me on this drug and enroll me in a drug company study? Do you make time for visits from drug company reps?"

If the answer doesn't seem right, your doctor probably isn't right for you either.