How Much is YOUR Doc Being Paid to Drug You?

From The Daily Dose By Dr. Douglass
Earlier this week I spilled a lot of ink on the shady goings-on between the guys who make prescription drugs and the ones who prescribe them. But it wasn't the first time I've blown the whistle. And as I've told you before, these kinds of industry ties are especially strong among the psychiatric docs.

Over the last few months, Minnesota, Vermont, and Maine have been in the spotlight — not because they're any worse than the other 47 states, but because they're actually required to document that sort of thing.

As you might expect, their record-keeping has been anything but stellar. But it's amazing what you can find when you're looking for it. Last year in Minnesota, psychiatrists who took the most money from drug makers just so happened to prescribe those drugs more often than other doctors.

And in Vermont, as drug company payments to psychiatrists doubled from 2005 to 2006, antipsychotic medications jumped to become one of the highest expenses of the state's Medicaid program.

I'm sure last year's numbers aren't any worse than any previous year's. But once the AP got wind of it — and made it national news — the Minnesota Psychiatric Society decided it needed a scapegoat in order to save face. Dr. John E. Simon was an easy target.



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Last year, Simon received over a quarter million dollars in "speaking and consulting fees" from various drug companies (including Eli Lilly, maker of such household names as Prozac, Cymbalta, and Cialis). Now, Simon is stepping down (he says it's voluntary, I say yeah right) from a panel that advises the state on drugs for low-income families — even though he says the money he received had no bearing on the decisions he made on the committee.

In an attempt to adopt a farther-reaching solution, the Minnesota Department of Human Services is taking the first steps to keep questionable connections to a minimum. Their solution: To get the panel members to reveal any conflicts of interest and then abstain from voting on any "related matters that could come before the committee."

But wouldn't that require integrity on the part of the doctor? I'm not saying psychiatrists don't have any… but if the issue here is a question of ethics (financial ties influencing policy-making decisions), I have my doubts.

You might not ever be in front of the panel, but you do get an audience with your doc or shrink. Before you take any anti-depressant drug, ask why… Why at all? Why this one? Then take the prescription and toss it in the trash on your way out the door. There are much safer, easier ways to stay sane. For starters, try St. John's wort. It's a proven, safe herbal treatment available in almost every supermarket.

Maintaining my sanity (barely),

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.