Doctors and Cash Kickbacks By Mrs Vera West
It seems that about two thirds of US doctors, and probably the same percentage in Australia, are getting cash kickbacks from Big Pharma:
https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-03-08-65-of-doctors-are-getting-cash-kickbacks-from-big-pharma.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170306114211.htm
“A majority of patients in the United States visited a doctor who received payments from drug companies, but most have no clue about it, according to a new Drexel University study. About 65 percent of those surveyed as a part of the study by Genevieve Pham-Kanter, PhD, an assistant professor in Drexel’s Dornsife School of Public Health, visited a doctor within the last year who had received payments or gifts from pharmaceutical or medical device companies.
What’s more: Only 5 percent of those surveyed knew that their doctor had received such payments. “These findings tell us that if you thought that your doctor was not receiving any money from industry, you’re most likely mistaken,” Pham-Kanter said. “Patients should be aware of the incentives that their physicians face that may lead them to not always act in their patients’ best interest. And the more informed patients are about their providers and options for care, the better decisions they can make.”
The original study can be found here:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11606-017-4012-3
This is a significant result because it shows that doctors may well have conflicts of interests, promoting Big Pharma drugs to patients, not because they know that these drugs work because they have read the peer reviewed evidence, but because they are part of the “network” it also makes the prescription of alternative, not Big Pharma health strategies less likely, since there is a prescription bias created. All the more reason to educate yourself about your health, so that you can make more informed health decisions, and if necessary question advise that you find problematic, and seek second, if not third opinions.
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