Doctors prescribing Meds just for profit?

Greetings ATS, thought I would write about something that has been troubling me. Last week my girlfriend had a outbreak of what she thought was a simple yeast infection, yet it continued to worsen and eventually she caved and went to the doctor to have it checked out. The visit lead to some fear for the both of us as her doctor claimed it could be HSV-2 - Herpes , and that a blood test was necessary to prove positive. The doctor prescribed her Valtrex a antiviral drug that treats the symptoms before they happen. Now that is good and well, but if you take a look at the side effects (it's about half way down the page) you'll notice it seems to cause more harm than good, and as far as I am aware these are COMMON symptoms.

so why should anyone take these overpriced pills when their are natural remedies such as these that are 100% safe and treat it just as effectually? It really made me start thinking about how we put our trust into these "trained" professionals, and dont give a second thought about what they say is best for us. Sure one could argue they've devoted their lives to help others, but I for one think it's the companies that own these medications that should be blamed. I came across a article (how legit it is, I do not know) that claims

Doctors are taught and are obligated to prescribe to you, in their opinion, the BEST medication for your condition. Since they are bombarded with representatives from various drug companies, their opinions sometimes get…well…altered. The companies that produce the inexpensive generic medications do not send their representatives to the doctors’ offices. They are busy competing with all the other manufacturers making the exact same generic. The big drug companies are sending representatives out to promote their expensive medication. If they can get doctors to prescribe their drug, the profits come in month after month after month.

Article

If what this article saids is true, wouldn't that mean some if not most doctors simply prescribe us the highest paying medication no matter the side effects? Sorta seems like a elaborate scheme to make money off others ignorance if you ask me. Now don't get me wrong I'm in no way bashing doctors, they save lives everyday, and in fact I would love the input of a doctor on here, but I do believe they put too much trust in these corporations that come to them with a new pill every year.

A fine example would be this story that the New York Times ran back in 07, it discusses the payments of anemia medicines which were found could increase patients’ risks of heart attacks or strokes.

The payments are legal, but very few people outside of the doctors who receive them are aware of their size. Critics, including prominent cancer and kidney doctors, say the payments give physicians an incentive to prescribe the medicines at levels that might increase patients’ risks of heart attacks or strokes. Industry analysts estimate that such payments — to cancer doctors and the other big users of the drugs, kidney dialysis centers — total hundreds of millions of dollars a year and are an important source of profit for doctors and the centers. The payments have risen over the last several years, as the makers of the drugs, Amgen and Johnson & Johnson, compete for market share and try to expand the overall business.

Seems like alot of money evolved, and we all know money equals greed, and greed in my opinion is what drives this economy. Anyways I'd like to hear what some of you have to say about this.

Oh and for others that our in the same boat as me (people that also have herpes, or may have it) hit me up on u2u I would like to ask some questions.

shouldnt a small dose of amoxicillin or any other cheap and basic antibiotic be enough.

YES they do. They have been doing it for years. Why do you think that they are driving big bright shiney cars??
It isnt because the doctors care about us all.

reply to post by lewman


I thought so myself, but it turns out Amoxicillin is used to treat bacterial infections, and Herpes is a Virus.

Buy generics whenever possible. Take your prescription paper to 2 or three pharmacies and ask them to price the medicine and tell them you want the generics.

You can also ask the doctor to write down the pharmaceutical/generic name.

Recently a law was passed in my country which obligates pharmacies to provide price for both the generic and brand pharmaceuticals and to always keep both stocked. This gives the patients a choice.

reply to post by meathed


Yeah, if you look back at the history of how cannabis was made illegal, you'll notice that before big pharma came along, Cannabis was used in everything, but was quickly made illegal since their was no profit to be made on the plant. That alone made me second guess what we our told, and even contributed to me being on this forum in the first place.

reply to post by kaleshchand


Really? I'm gonna check this out thanks for the input , Although I would much rather try my best to avoid any medication in the first place, hell im even picky about taking aspirin.

Yeah, I've been to the doctors office and over the years I've noticed the representatives from these pharmaceutical companies always lurking around the offices asking receptionists if they can speak to the doctor.

I've had some great doctors who have actually given me some of the samples they get from the pharmaceutical reps. A few years ago I also had a doctor give me an extra free inhaler because she told me the price was going to way go up once they banned the propellant-based inhalers.

I think some doctors would push the more expensive stuff, but there are still plenty out there who know the game since they work around it every day.

Doctors prescribing meds for profit!

Next you'll be telling us that some lawyers create legal messes that don't need to happen to drum up work, or mortgage brokers who pack people with poor credit into loans they can't afford, or garage mevahnics who will charge you a c-note for changing a filter, or...

reply to post by silent thunder


Doctors do prescribe medications for profit, that's one of the ways a doctor earns a living, I wasn't debating this because it's a well known fact, what I was debating is when doctors write off these prescriptions, how many are doing it just to earn a little extra cash without giving it much thought?

reply to post by Ruke37


I suppose if you look anywhere you could find a few rotten apples that are driven by greed and nothing more, but I feel as though doctors are trained to do this, because to them the medications they receive are FDA approve (most anyways) so they must be somewhat safe.

reply to post by Ruke37


Some of those reps could be "salesmen" for injectables and stuff that the doctor himself buys. But no doubt big pharma reps are there as well.

All doctors and even pharmacists know the game. Once you get on the inside scoop you will be surprised to the amount of info there is.

reply to post by Nobama


Yeah, sometimes I feel sorry for doctors in a way because I think most of them are doing what they think is right. I don't think (or hope) that most doctors would prescribe a bad medication just for the profit.

I think our doctors should be trained more in the alternative forms of treatment. Not everything is as simple as "diagnose=prescribe". You can just look at the way anytime a new natural way of treating something comes around it seems like the pharmaceutical companies compress it and put it into a pill or cream. Then the new treatment is taken over and profitized.

It's a sad game and many more people could recieve treatment if these things weren't put into a little bottle and marked up hundreds of dollars

It's a sad game and many more people could recieve treatment if these things weren't put into a little bottle and marked up hundreds of dollars

Exactly it seems if you cant afford it, you dont deserve it.

reply to post by kaleshchand


I'm sure that seeing the inside scoop can at times be very depressing. Just seeing how medications in other countries cost 90% less than in the US is depressing enough. But I guess no one ever said the truth was happy-go-lucky

Originally posted by Nobama

Exactly it seems if you cant afford it, you dont deserve it.

You got it. We line big pharma's pockets while we all struggle to scrape together all we can to protect our health with these medications. Not to mentions that there seems to be a medication for everything now. Conventional illness just isn't enough anymore.

Originally posted by Ruke37
reply to post by kaleshchand

 

I'm sure that seeing the inside scoop can at times be very depressing. Just seeing how medications in other countries cost 90% less than in the US is depressing enough. But I guess no one ever said the truth was happy-go-lucky

Yes exactly, I have been able to verify that (at least in my country) many items are marked up by about 500 to 1000s of percent.

a table of some items (amounts approx USD, per box of 100 )
item Cost to import retail price
Gabapentin $4.00 $60.00
Omeprazole $1.60 $10.00
Tramadol $1.20 $ 9.00
Atenolol $1.30 $10.00

and all is similar (expect for those recently placed under price control).

reply to post by kaleshchand


Well if those numbers are accurate thats a kick to the groin knowing I may have to pay out the nose for something that's cheaply made to begin with.

Originally posted by Nobama
reply to post by kaleshchand

 

Well if those numbers are accurate thats a kick to the groin knowing I may have to pay out the nose for something that's cheaply made to begin with.

edit on 15-4-2011 by Nobama because: (no reason given)

The numbers are accurate .... for my country (Fiji Islands), no doubt other countries would have different numbers, but I'd expect the percentage to be there.

I was having a conversation about this the other day. Here when seeing a GP or specialist apart from private doctors everyone goes to the same place either the GP surgery, or the general hospital.I have no idea how many doctors are there but the place is (sardines) crowded everyday! the pharmacy is on site, so what ever is prescribed you collect there and then, same with the general hospital. I have sat there and watched as patient after patient goes in the see the doctor, then straight to the pharmacy, and leaves with carrier bags " full "of medicine to cover them for the next month. I just wonder how many of these people have been going to the doctors over how many years with the same complaints, that are never cured, as it seems to me they never are! & how many of the drugs in those carrier bags are making them worse adding to the weight of these carrier bags over the years. My mother-in-law a couple of years ago was taking a pill for high blood pressure, after a while she developed a very bad cough, the doctors told her she should stop smoking (she never has smoked) then they said it was second hand smoke! after months of this, she went to see a different doctor who saw the pills she was taking, took them out of her hand & threw them straight in the bin, saying these are killing you!!!!