1/21    Anybody in favor of doctors providing written disclosures of their
        financial dealings with drug companies?  If a doctor is peddling
        a particular drug to patients, he has to tell them that he owns
        stock in the company, for example.  Or if the drug maker paid for
        him and his family's cruise "seminar" on a particular disease.
        \_ Yes, absolutely. I don't see how patients wouldn't want to
           know that information.
           \_ and here lies the problem.  99% of the people won't ask their
              doctor for such info.  Chances are you don't even know if
              your doctor graduated last of his class.  And AMA is against
              all such disclosures.  We need a federal or state law.
              \_ Just let the free market handle the problem. Bad doctors
                 will kill all their patients, then they will have to switch
                 careers. Why do you want to get the government involved?
                 \_ Well played.
                    \_ Not really.  The fact is that no matter how much info
                       is available most people won't ask for it, wouldn't
                       know how to judge it, have no baseline for it, and
                       are lucky to find a doctor still taking new patients in
                       the first place.  Go ahead, make a new law.  New laws
                       about disclosing this stuff won't help anyone except
                       the lawyers and politicians and make some new paper
                       pushers a job.
                       \_ Especially the ambulance-chasing laywers.
                       \_ How about the insurance-money chasing doctors?
                          Let real ok?  doctors are in business for the money.
                          The AMA has brainwashed you into thinking that MDs
                          are altruistic angels from God.  They're not.
                          Doctors don't like HMOs because they get paid LESS
                          Than PPOs.  The more tests they run and the more
                          drugs they prescribe, the more money they make.
           \_ How do you tell the difference between accepting a "cruise" vs.
              getting free samples of OTC medicine?