Home | About Natural News | Contact Us | Write for Natural News | Media Information | Advertise with Natural News
NaturalNews.com
doctors

JAMA says doctors should stop accepting bribes from drug companies

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Key concepts: Doctors, Bribes and Drug companies
View on NaturalPedia: Doctors, Bribes and Drug companies
Share/Save/Bookmark   Email this article to a friend Printable Version  FREE Email Newsletter

Articles Related to This Article:

The great direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising con: how patients and doctors alike are easily influenced to demand dangerous drugs

Why Doctors are Idiots: 150 Years of Disatrous Advice on Children's Health (satire)

Physicians and bribery: a closer look at this common medical industry practice


Support NaturalNews advertisers - Advertise with NaturalNews


Help support NaturalNews with health books and educational programs from Truth Publishing:

Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness
8 Weeks to Vibrant Health
Raw In Ten Minutes (recipes)
How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days
... and much more.

The Journal of the American Medical Association is rocking the boat in conventional medicine. An article in JAMA has come up with the suggestion -- aghast! -- that doctors should stop accepting bribes from drug companies. Most people didn't know that doctors routinely accept bribes (including hundreds of thousands of dollars in "contractor's fees" for signing patients up for drug trials), so this news may come as a bit of a shock to some.

Big Pharma spends nearly $19 billion a year bribing and influencing physicians, by the way. That's billion with a "B." How much money is $19 billion? It's more money than NASA wastes smashing satellites into Mars and exploding space shuttles in Earth's upper atmosphere. It's more money than the entire junk food industry spends hypnotizing obese children into nagging their parents for another box of sugar-bomb breakfast cereal at the quickie mart. Heck, it's more money than the entire United States spends on genuine disease prevention and health education.

In other words, it's a lotta dough. But bribing doctors requires a lot of cash. Doctors have big-dollar appetites. They drive Mercedes Benz, Hummers and Audis. They live in 5,000 square-foot houses with high heating and cooling bills (especially for the outdoor pool). They have expensive habits, expensive travel, and expensive dinner bills (fortunately, drug companies pick up most of the travel and dinner). Let's face it: Doctors have just gotten used to the idea that they're supposed to be treated to a higher level of comfort and prestige than the rest of the population, and if it takes drug money to buy that lifestyle, then bring on the drug reps!

Actually, I'm being facetious. Most doctors hate those pesky drug reps. And the smart ones can't stand Big Pharma, either. The really good doctors will first see if they can get patients to make healthy lifestyle changes on their own, and if they can't, they'll prescribe generic drugs instead of the overpriced brand-name drugs. But really good doctors, sadly, are also really rare. I happen to know a few, but they are the exception, not the rule.

Nevertheless, nearly all doctors -- the good ones, the bad ones and the downright corrupt ones -- take money and gifts from drug companies. Walk into any doctor's office, and you'll be hard pressed to find a single object (mugs, paper pads, pens, etc.) that isn't emblazoned with the logo of a high-profit prescription drug. And those aren't even the bribes, those are just trinkets. But it shows you how completely drug companies have penetrated the offices of most doctors.

The majority of doctors say these gifts don't influence their prescribing behavior, just like the majority of consumers claim television advertising has no influence on their grocery purchases, either. Studies prove otherwise. Studies prove that drug company gifts to doctors are, indeed, not only effective, but quite a bargain for the drug companies. It's sort of like street corner drug dealers handing out crack in order to gain new customers, except that nobody denies crack is actually bad for your health.

Speaking of crack, Pfizer's CEO Hank McKinnell says all this talk about banning the bribing of doctors is unnecessary because Pfizer already has its own "voluntary code of conduct." Well that's a relief. All the bribery in the industry is going to be stopped by the drug dealers themselves!

The doctor bribery problem has reached such a high level of ridiculousness that even JAMA, which usually plays the role of blowing the pro-drug propaganda horn, has noticed there is a problem. In fact, it has suggested a course of action that, if adopted, might actually reign in drug company bribes and restore a bit of honesty to the world of medicine. But that's only if it is widely adopted, and that's about as likely as asking a heroin addict to agree to stop shooting up.

Specifically, the anti-bribery proposal would:

Free registration is required to read the rest of this article...
Enter your email address to continue:  
Your email privacy is 100% protected by NaturalNews. We do not sell, rent or share emails.


Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:


Related Articles:

The great direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising con: how patients and doctors alike are easily influenced to demand dangerous drugs

Why Doctors are Idiots: 150 Years of Disatrous Advice on Children's Health (satire)

Physicians and bribery: a closer look at this common medical industry practice

Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com

Email this article to a friend

Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us

Permalink to this article:

Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link.

Embed article link: (copy HTML code below):


(FREE) Thursday evening, Nov. 12 at 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern), call in to hear the NaturalNews Talk Hour with special guest Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn - "Making Yourself Heart Attack Proof" Register via email to receive call-in number:
Enter Your Email::
Support NaturalNews sponsors:
Advertise with NaturalNews...

Explore NaturalPedia.com, the internet's largest natural health encyclopedia of knowledge, covering over 50,000 topics. It's free!
Visit NaturalPedia.com.


FREE Report: The Five Best Anti-Viral Products to Beat Influenza, Swine Flu, Bird Flu and SARS

• Top anti-viral remedies
• Where to get them now
• Four things to avoid
• Become self-reliant
• Boost your family safety

Click here to read the FREE report now.

W.H.O. Declares Global Pandemic
Turn FEAR into Confidence!

Listen to the complete 3.5 hour recording on 4 audio CDs of the Health Ranger's Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness Course, covering natural anti-virals, family safety, infrastructure disruptions, quarantine, preparedness gear and much more.

Testimonials:

"Mike Adams' preparedness course turned our fears into confidence. This is POWERFUL information, coming from a trusted source. If you want to save yourself countless hours researching and getting prepared and if you want to do everything in your power to protect your family, I highly recommend the Health Ranger’s Advanced Preparedness Course."
- N. Nelson (Arizona)

"This is packed information no one should miss."
- T. Valenzuela

"Thanks Mike... during this class you covered prevention and preparedness from A to Z with integrity, brave honesty and outstanding knowledge! Thank you for your steadfast, thorough and cool-headed approach to well being. With deep gratitude for your service." - Bev

Available NOW for immediate shipping.
100% satisfaction guarantee

Click here to learn more...


NEW Product: Valley of Longevity Shampoo from the Health Ranger

• 98% Organic
• 100% Natural
• 100% Fragrance Free!
• No SLS
• No Parabens
• No synthetic chemicals
• FREE shipping in U.S. on orders over $75

Click here to read more...


Breaking News Stories:

     See more breaking news...

What is this?


Enter your details to learn more:
First Name:
Last Name:
Email:

(Email privacy guaranteed.)

Free Special Reports

How to Build Your Financial Safety Net
The 7 Principles of Mindful Wealth
The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D
The pH Nutrition Guide to Acid / Alkaline Balance
Pet Food Ingredients Revealed! (shocking)
Medicine From Fish
The Water Cure

Recommended Products Related to This Article*:

Free download: Selling Sickness (summary)
Read the best book on disease mongering
for learning the truth about Big Pharma

Revealed: Natural Health Solutions (free)
Free summary of book by Mike Adams
for learning censored natural health remedies

Additional Products of Interest to All

Katadyn Exstream XR Water Purifier
#1 personal water purifier
for clean, pristine water in seconds

Preparedness Tools Natural News Bundle
For preparedness and safety: 60% off
for preparing for natural disasters

How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days
Health Ranger guide to reversing diabetes
for reversing type-2 diabetes

Exposed! The Toxic Chemistry of Products
Free summary of this shocking book
for learning the truth about toxic products

Appetite for Profit (free download)
Free download summary of this top book
for discovering the truth about food companies

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton
A free download of Biology of Belief
for learning about the mind-biology connection

The Genie In Your Genes by Dawson Church
A free, downloadable summary of this book
for learning about the biology of intention

Katadyn MicroPur Water Purifier Tablets
The best water purification tablets
for purifying almost any water source

The Weiss Method for Heart Disease
How to reverse heart disease naturally
for heart disease, high cholesterol

* Products do NOT pay to be listed here. These are genuine, independent recommendations by the Health Ranger

☯ Products with this symbol are sold by NaturalNews or its affiliates and earn revenues for NaturalNews

Also on NaturalNews:

Streaming Health Ranger Videos
CounterThink Cartoons
FREE Special Reports
Podcasts


Home | About Natural News | Contact Us | Write for Natural News | Media Information | Advertise with Natural News

This site is part of the Natural News Network © 2009 All Rights Reserved. Privacy | Terms All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing International, LTD. is not responsible for content written by contributing authors. The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. Your use of this website indicates your agreement to these terms and those published here. All trademarks, registered trademarks and servicemarks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners.