Guest guest Posted December 19, 2003 Report Share Posted December 19, 2003 http://campaignfortruth.com/Eclub/191203/CTM%20-%20freelunches.htm The Daily Telegraph, 21st November, 2003 A Free Supper and the Surgeons Are Anyone's Trust me …I'm a junior doctor by Max Pemberton At this week's surgical meeting, we were subjected to a 15-minute barrage of cleverly altered statistics by an obsequious drug rep, all white teeth, fake tan and hair gel. The new drug he was peddling was twice as expensive as the current one and, when you look closely at the evidence, can't even be proved to be as effective. The research is funded by the drug company. Hardly objective. It is somewhat suspicious, too, that this new drug has arrived just as the patent's run out on the company's current big earner. But no one seemed to feel this worthy of note. The company is also paying for my consultant and some of the other surgeons to have dinner at a swanky restaurant where minor celebrities hang out. If we had wanted to work in an area where we got free stuff, we should have got a job in PR. Ultimately, it's taxpayers' money we're spending and if the drug companies have so much cash to flash, why not subsidise medicines for the poorer companies? I decided to skip the free sandwiches. We admitted Miss Miller a few days ago with recurrent stomach pains, but decided to wait and see if the pains receded on their own, which they did. " I think it's down to my new homoeopath, " says Miss Miller during the ward round, just before we discharge her. Several of the assembled doctors suppress chuckles, but Mr Butterworth guffaws in her face. " He says it's because of all the wheat we eat these days, " she says, anxious to explain. " Our bodies aren't designed for it. But he's given me a new supplement, which I've been taking since I've been in here, and it's worked wonders. " As far as Miss Miller is concerned she came in with stomach pains, we didn't do anything for her, but she started taking her homeopathic medicine and she got better. Who am I to say it wasn't down to homoeopathy? Mr Butterworth isn't convinced: " New-age rubbish. No, these things just get better on their own, given time. Homoeopathy. Huh! No reliable evidence that it works at all. " The other surgeons smile in agreement and walk off, shaking their heads. " I think it works, " whispers Miss Miller to me. " Well if it makes you feel better, there's no harm in it, " I reply, and run to catch them up. I'm just in time to catch the instructions for the next patient and Mr Butterworth, apparently no longer concerned about reliable evidence, prescribes the new drug we learnt about at lunch time. The ward round ends and, as I fill out the blood forms for the next day, Miss Miller appears. " I bought you and the nurses these, " she says, producing a box of biscuits. I thank her, and having refused the drug rep's sandwiches, I polish off the Jammy Dodgers before you can say " Holland and Barrett " . I'd like to think I prescribe medicines sensibly and not because someone has paid for my lunch. I'd like to think I wouldn't allow myself to be bought by a transnational company on the promise of supper at Dale Winton's favourite restaurant. But I'm still only a junior doctor, so we'll have to wait and see. The Daily Telegraph, 21st November, 2003 New Photos - easier uploading and sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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