Chapter 3 Of Lies The Media Tell Me Analysis

Going to the doctor’s office is never a fun experience. Probing, poking, and trying to decipher what the doc writes on your prescription can be confusing, however, the most upsetting part is what goes on behind closed doors. Big Pharma, chapter 3 of Lies the Media Tells Us, explains the PR tactics of drug companies. James Winter explains these tactics used to persuade doctors to use their brand. In some cases these doctors can get free vacations, cars, front row seating for a basketball game, and a stack of cash. The doctors that respond to these tactics are completely unethical. Doctors have the responsibility to prescribe the best drugs for their patients. Although many Doctors pick what gives the best gift package. Doctors have also been known to push drugs onto patients that may not really need it. This is due to the continual widening of guidelines. This widening
They pay off whistleblowers, they perform under the table deals with doctors, have multi-million dollar campaign ads for their drugs, and have celebrity endorsers. Although these tactics are very unethical there is one more that upset me the most. This is ghostwriting. Ghostwriting is a doctor that works for the drug company and writes an article for a drug that gets published in a medical journal. Lots of doctors write for medical journals but what separates them is their lack of honesty. These ghostwriters don’t say their affiliated with the pharmaceutical and praise the drug that the company wants to endorse. When these companies get articles published about their drug its free advertising. So when other doctors read the article their actually looking at an advertisement but they don’t know it. These medical journals are supposed to be unbiased and legitimate. This is undermining why these medical journals are published and taken so seriously. In my opinion this is the worst thing a pharmaceutical company can