The pharmaceutical industry has been the bane of existance for the federal government. The thought of pharmaceutical agents hobnobbing with physicians in an effort to persuade them to prescribe new drugs has been the political source of seemingly unlimited regulations and mandates over the last few years.

And an industry once known for an occasional abuse in this area has been truly destroyed by these mandates. Now, pharmaceutical representatives can’t even hand out pens or paper pads with their company logo or name of  their drug. Really? What other organization is under that level of scrutiny?

In my opinion, it is unfair and unfounded. Soon, less and less drugs will be made available to the paying public and then what will happen? People will suffer as they will be forced to use drugs that are out of date with current advances in medicine. I actually know of clinics that are still dispensing vials and syringes for insulin administration, fret with possible complications, rather than the new insulin pens that are now available and much more safe.

And now, the insurance companies are paying physicians kick-backs if they use only generic drugs on their pharmaceutical panels. In other words, physicians will get bonus monies if only generic medicines are prescribed. And they keep track of this, I assure you. Every quarter, I receive a printout of which drugs I have prescribed for various insurance companies and the patients under that specific plan of coverage. 

Is that ethical?  Do you want to go to a physician who hides available medicines from you because they are discouraged from writing prescriptions for new and better drugs that are available just so he or she can get a financial incentive to do so? We will see just how quickly the federal government jumps on that bandwagon.

It seems that ethics in medicine has now gone full-circle. Think about that.