Comments on: Trevor Jackson: Is there an unbiased doctor in the house? http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2008/07/25/trevor-jackson-is-there-an-unbiased-doctor-in-the-house/ Just another blogs.bmj.com weblog Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:57:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Kevin Barraclough http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2008/07/25/trevor-jackson-is-there-an-unbiased-doctor-in-the-house/#comment-2694 Kevin Barraclough Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:20:18 +0000 http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/?p=422#comment-2694 Dear Trevor, This is a great initiave. As a GP there was much concern about whether my prescribing would be influenced by drug company representatives taking me to lunch. The truth is that even industrial qualtities of sushi had no effect on my prescribing habits. It is the 'expert' opinions on anti hypertensives, statins etc that affect what I prescribe. It is these 'experts' who need to disclose, not whether they have recieved any honarariums from drug companies for giving lectures, but how much they they have recieved. If they recieve £5000 in a year I am not very concerned. If it is £50,000 I am concerned. And the disclosure needs to be the sum from all drug companies, not just one. I am a member of the Church of Latter Day Therapuetic Nihilists. Our Prophet Douglas Black taught that thou shall not prescribe or investigate unless there is a good reason. If an expert is recieving £10,000 a year from 10 different drug companies they are unlikely to share my faith. When I contemplate their opinions, given that I am a fulltime GP without the luxury of assessing the literature myself (and Douglas Black, sadly, is not at present answering my prayers about clinical therapeutics) I need to know "how much in total" - not yes or no. Amen. Dear Trevor,
This is a great initiave. As a GP there was much concern about whether my prescribing would be influenced by drug company representatives taking me to lunch. The truth is that even industrial qualtities of sushi had no effect on my prescribing habits. It is the ‘expert’ opinions on anti hypertensives, statins etc that affect what I prescribe. It is these ‘experts’ who need to disclose, not whether they have recieved any honarariums from drug companies for giving lectures, but how much they they have recieved. If they recieve £5000 in a year I am not very concerned. If it is £50,000 I am concerned. And the disclosure needs to be the sum from all drug companies, not just one. I am a member of the Church of Latter Day Therapuetic Nihilists. Our Prophet Douglas Black taught that thou shall not prescribe or investigate unless there is a good reason. If an expert is recieving £10,000 a year from 10 different drug companies they are unlikely to share my faith. When I contemplate their opinions, given that I am a fulltime GP without the luxury of assessing the literature myself (and Douglas Black, sadly, is not at present answering my prayers about clinical therapeutics) I need to know “how much in total” - not yes or no. Amen.

]]> By: Philip Dawdy http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2008/07/25/trevor-jackson-is-there-an-unbiased-doctor-in-the-house/#comment-2659 Philip Dawdy Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:50:13 +0000 http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/?p=422#comment-2659 the response the list got is just so typical of how wild--and i mean wild on every possible level--conversations have gotten around pharma influence in the US and the UK. how folks like erick turner could be written off as plaintiff's whores is way beyond me. anyway, happy to know i made it to the right side of this issue. and thanks to the bmj for making this an issue. i think it's time for some american medical journals to step up and follow suit. the response the list got is just so typical of how wild–and i mean wild on every possible level–conversations have gotten around pharma influence in the US and the UK. how folks like erick turner could be written off as plaintiff’s whores is way beyond me.

anyway, happy to know i made it to the right side of this issue.

and thanks to the bmj for making this an issue. i think it’s time for some american medical journals to step up and follow suit.

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