Most patients are unaware that different pharmaceutical companies give doctors thousands of dollars for each patient that they enrol in experimental drug trials.
Even though the motive’s of the doctor’s may be pure and the medications are what is best for the patient’s sickness, patients need to be know about such payments to discuss them with the doctor and then decided for themselves if the participation by the doctor in the trial might cause his medical advice to be compromised.
The healthcare reform legislation has a provision that should bring transparency about the payments to doctors and other corporate benefits physicians receive. Included in those benefits are gifts, lavish dinners and conventions sponsored by pharmaceutical companies that are more of a luxury vacation than medical convention. The new provision will publish all the information in a database online.
Just as with the regulations for the food-safety act, most of the final regulations for this act have been help up in the Office of Management and Budget after being written up by an appropriate agency. On thought over the delay is President Obama did not want to issue the regulations prior to the election, when the healthcare reform law was a contentious issue with voters.
Most doctors put the well-being of their patients first, but a recent study has shown that physicians who are given food from a company are more apt to prescribe the products from that company, even though the doctor might not consciously being doing it.
