A survey published last month in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that nearly three out of four doctors have financial ties to Big Pharma. The vast majority of these relationships were with representatives of prescription drug or medical device manufacturers. Gifts included drug samples, meals, and payment for consulting or advisory roles.
Since 2013, federal law has required that payments to doctors by medical device and pharmaceutical companies be publicly reported. The database (which you can access here) has published over 11.5 million records between August 2013 and December 2017, reflecting $8.4 billion in gifts and payments.
Dr. Aaron S. Kesselheim, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the survey, says this may be influencing doctors’ behavior. According to the study, “Free samples are used as a marketing tool and have been linked to prescribing of high-cost, brand-name drugs over lower-cost generic alternatives.” He suggests that money paid for public speaking and consulting engagements may have an even more acute impact on doctor behavior. “Social scientists will tell you that any amount of money will influence people, but I think larger sums can influence behavior more,” Dr. Kesselheim said in a statement to The New York Times,
This information is terrifying.
We trust our physicians to make the best recommendations for our health, but the majority of these doctors are receiving gifts from Big Pharma that may influence the treatments they recommend. For example, an orthopedic surgeon in Manhattan received almost $2,000,000 from companies that manufacture hip and knee replacement products between 2015 and 2017. Not coincidentally, the surgeon, Dr. Geoffrey Westrich, performs hundreds of hip and knee replacements each year. In 2017, this doctor received $870,573.39 in general payments from pharmaceutical and medical device companies, including $448,000 for “consulting fees”, $28,580 for non-educational speaking engagements, and over $23,000 in travel and lodging.
Is it possible that these payments have no effect on the equipment, materials, and drugs the good doctor uses?
Sure.
Is it likely? Dr. Kesselheim doesn’t seem to think so.
Financial connections between physicians and industry remain a prevalent force affecting prescribing practices and health care costs.”
And while health insurance often shields patients from the bulk of these inflated prices, they end up being passed down in the form of higher rates and higher deductibles. And who profits? Big Pharma and the medical device industry.
Remember Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin? In 2015 they paid nearly $12 million to doctors not associated with research studies. This included 4 payments totaling over $460,000 to Dr. Glen Apseloff, the president and lead researcher at Ohio Clinical Trials, Inc. These were reported as “consulting fees” and were paid directly to Dr. Apseloff, not Ohio Clinical Trials.
We’ve talked about the how doctors can profit from chemotherapy, and the lengths pharmaceutical companies will go to promote their products. Medical schools focus almost exclusively on pharmaceutical and surgical intervention strategies used to reactively address health issues rather than homeopathic strategies to proactively prevent these diseases in the first place.
And why not? There’s far more money in prescription drugs and medical equipment than there is in holistic and homeopathic treatments. In a 2009 article by Dr. Art Van Zee, it was reported that Purdue Pharma conducted more than 40 national pain-management and speaker-training conferences at resorts in Florida, Arizona, and California. More than 5000 physicians, pharmacists, and nurses attended these all-expenses-paid symposia, where they were recruited and trained for Purdue’s national speaker bureau. This coincided with the launch of OxyContin.
It is well documented that this type of pharmaceutical company symposium influences physicians’ prescribing, even though the physicians who attend such symposia believe that such enticements do not alter their prescribing patterns,”
says Dr. Van Zee. Dr. Kesselheim agrees, saying that company-sponsored presentations “provide a very narrow educational experience.”
So, what can we do? How do we make sure that we’re getting the best advice from our doctors? One way is to seek transparency with your doctors and avoid seeking advice from health care providers who accept large sums of money from Big Pharma. Another is to learn as much as you can about homeopathy and natural prevention and treatment strategies. Finally, seek out a holistic care doctor in your area, who can help you find the right plan for your body to treat the disease, not the symptoms.
I sometimes have an extra juice in the evenings and it’s amazing the extra energy I have and less sleep I need. Diagnosed in 2005 renal cell cancer, secondary to the bones 2007. I’ve outlived my expiry date thanks to the Truth About Cancer. I also love stir fry’s so again getting many extra vegetables throughout the week.
The lemon juice I have every morning with bi carb soda.
3 out of 4 MD who care more about lining their pockets then their patients. Go for natural treatment.
What ever happened to preventive medicine? Today it’s all about how much money these so called doctors can squeeze out of a poor unsuspecting patient. I understand they need to make a living, but where do you draw the line? How much money does one truly need?
I worked in several different specialty practices and can attest that what Ty has listed above is very very true. So, glad to be out of that rat race. Haven’t seen a doc in 15 years and counting. It’s time for people to start taking care of themselves and research alternative remedies. I would absolutely love to see an explosion of naturopathic and holistic docs, especially here in the Midwest.
This is truly a travesty in what we’re seeing today. It’s nothing more than unadulterated greed at the expense of the patients life. I know because they killed my Mom with their chemo and radiation. I was kicked out of their offices and told never to return when I asked about kickbacks and natural remedies. Unfortunately Mom saw them as gods and me as a nutcase and trouble maker. God rest her soul. I tried. To this day I’ll never understand why people cannot accept that good organic foods, herbs, spices and the like truly heal. There wasn’t a Walgreens in the garden of eden for a reason.
There is no doubt in my mind that there is a known cure for cancer….. My opinion for many years…. There is too much money at stake by Big Pharma and the doctors…. money talks and how sad is that, that money is the priority over peoples lives….
My husband has stage 4 lung cancer and seeing this article just inferiorates me…..
Mt husband has/had bladder cancer he had radiation treatment which did not get rid of the cancer, but left him in terrible pain be side heaving to get up hour after hour to pass urine, some even every half an hour..This process started in May 2016, after the radiation treatment he was left for 2 years with out any fur ther treatment..until two weeks ago he had surgery to clear the bladder, this has caused further trails of the above systoms, he was given anti-biotics which he is still taking..two weeks of treatment, so he is on antibiotics..still there is so much pain, he has no energy and some days just needs to sleep, cannot seem to have enough sleep..what to do??
Hi Barbara –
We appreciate you reaching out to us about this.
I’m so sorry to hear about your husband – I’ll be sure to pray for him.
Unfortunately, we are unable to give any kind of medical advice. The best advice we can give you is to consult with one of the doctors we interviewed in the Global series.
Please note that we are not able to select an expert for you.
We’ve created a page with the experts’ contact info as it was available to us.
Here’s the link to the actual webpage:
http://thetruthaboutcancer.com/experts-info-sheet/
We do have one more resource you may be interested in. During our Live Event 2017 series, Dr. Patrick Quillin suggested contacting The Institute of Functional Medicine to locate a practitioner in your area.
If you are interested, here is the link to search for a Functional Medicine Practitioner in your area: https://www.ifm.org/find-a-practitioner/
I’m also attaching the info about the Hope4Cancer clinic in Tijuana, MX if you’d like to reach out to them.
http://www.hope4cancer.com/
https://hope4cancer.com/schedule-a-call/
Please also see the resources below in case they will be helpful to you.
From our beginning, we have supported charities that really help these cancer patients.
HealingStrong:
http://healingstrong.com/
https://www.facebook.com/healingstrong
HealingStrong supports MANY cancer patients and are amazing. HealingStrong, a nonprofit organization, is supported 100% by volunteers, who are experienced in using natural strategies. The organization’s mission is to educate, encourage, equip, and empower those seeking comprehensive natural strategies to heal strong and stay strong.
HealingStrong Connect Groups meet monthly in various areas of the U.S. and South Australia to link others interested in natural strategies, holistic protocols, and local resources. Their groups focus on mind, body and emotional healing based on Biblical promises, as they believe the God of the Bible is our healer. For more information on how to start a group, or become involved in one, please go to: http://www.healingstrong.org/groups, and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/healingstrong.
Cancer Crackdown is so awesome and helps patients without a lot of money get supplements and treatments and even helps them raise money:
http://cancercrackdown.org/
https://www.facebook.com/CancerCrackdown
Also, the Independent Cancer Research Foundation is another charity that we support, also known as Cancer Tutor. They have been a TREMENDOUS help for cancer patients and have a TON of life saving information they give out freely and they do real research into treatments for cancer that are outside of the toxic Big Pharma Big 3:
http://www.theicrf.com/
The best that we can suggest is to contact Healing Strong and Cancer Crackdown for any need in financial resources.
We also support Mary Beth’s “Nick Gonzalez Foundation” which is bringing Nick’s protocol to the people…which is one of the most powerful cancer killing protocols out there.
I hope this is helpful! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us again if there’s anything else we can help with.
Wishing you endless blessings and love!