Compliments of Dr. Falkoff:
Hypocritical Society
Doctors can’t accept pens, pads, lunches, gifts, concert or sports tickets, trips, medication samples etc, etc from Pharmaceutical and other Medical Related companies. Of course because Physicians despite their usually extensive education are just human too and will succumb to greed, catering to their vanity and sense of self importance.
They can’t be independent businesses, independent contractors and set their own value for the service they provide and responsibilities they take on. Let’s also remember they can’t ever make a mistake, for this could lead to their becoming not only defensive but actually lose their expensive, heavily time and money invested career in the blink of an eye through a lawsuit for potentially something they had no control over or heaven forbid was human enough to make a mistake. Can you blame physicians for being accused of practicing defensive medicine.
Yet, the Government at Local, State, National levels who will shape how Billions upon Billions to Trillions of Dollars are spent, which are typically raised through taxes on its citizens, the government gets Lobbied by Interest Groups that give them Millions to Billions of Dollars to Hear their Opinions and Influence the thinking of these same individuals who then come up with these ideas that physicians can’t receive things – gifts, money, food etc…. because we as highly educated individuals can’t decide to do the right things regardless of some material gain. Despite the fact that in just about every other industry in this country and the world does this go on where a company that provides a product or a service, market itself, wine and dine present and potential clients etc.
The Insurance Industry is a huge lobby, the Pharmaceutical Industry is a huge lobby and even Hospital Systems and Physician Owned Hospital and Health Systems are all huge lobbies. Just look at all the ads flying about the Healthcare Reform situation.
All varied, self interested groups. All at the same time supporting the idea that physicians should get nothing that potentially influence their decisions in treatment.
Does the AMA, ACOP, AAFP and all our other professional organizations get all this? For they too don’t think their memberships can utilize independent thinking and thought processes and can be so easily influenced. And if so, then so what if this is the way those making the rules function.
Just seems that all this is the height of hypocrisy.
Sincerely,
Alan T. Falkoff, M.D., D.A.B.F.M., F.A.A.F.P.
High Ridge Family Practice