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Related: About this forumFiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)But that's not the same as significantly increasing the length of life.
It might be a 30% chance that you'll live an extra month.
Afromania
(2,767 posts)RainCaster
(10,673 posts)rpannier
(24,304 posts)I think setting seashells on fire and using the ash to call the gremlins that cure cancer is safer
BKDem
(1,733 posts)I guess I should just ask my doctor.
kiri
(786 posts)Doctors themselves cannot keep up with all the literature and ads.
They cannot research every drug and the pluses/minuses, and then for the individual patient. Many just throw up hands and say, "OK, we'll try it and see."
The drug companies get sales. Negative results are rarely publicized. The dead cannot file complaints.
"Neutral" evaluators like the FDA are overwhelmed.
DENVERPOPS
(8,677 posts)If you want to have some fun, do what I do!
I watch the Rx commercials, and love the part at the end when they say, "Ask your doctor if soandso is right for you.....
So I memorized the name of one of these Rx drugs advertised for some women's disease.
I finished my annual physical, and said to the Doctor: Do you think soandso is right for me? He looked at me, flabbergasted, like I was crazy............
He asked why I thought I needed a drug for a extremely rare disease that only affects women.
I replied, I don't. I just saw a commercial that said "ask your doctor if soandso is right for you"
He just about split a gut laughing..........I am sure, that every time he sees a Rx ad on TV he thinks of me and chuckles......
The Docs loathe that drug companies are allowed to advertise to the public. Patients make them crazy when the patients ask them about whether this drug is right for them, and then they have to spend valuable time talking to the patient trying to explain to them why it isn't right for them.......
panfluteman
(2,054 posts)Advertising for prescription drugs violates the confidentiality of the doctor / patient relationship, and all the rules of professional ethics that should guide the practice of medicine. Advertising prescription drugs on TV was illegal when I was a child. Only your doctor should decide if you need a certain drug or if you don't. With people being bombarded by all this pervasive drug advertising these days, doctors are being manipulated and demoralized - the patients that come to them have seen this drug on TV, and are convinced that they need it, and the doctors know that if they don't give it to them, they will just walk out of their office and keep looking until they find a doctor who will prescribe it - even though they may not even need it. Which brings home yet another salient point: That the pharmaceutical companies that advertise these drugs on TV are nothing more than drug pushers. They see the public / the patient as nothing more than a vehicle to be manipulated for their own profit, much like Trump doesn't give a rat's ass about the Ukraine, just as long as they give him dirt on the Bidens.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)gone. It's a toss up.
mitch96
(13,816 posts)My GP keeps bugging me to get a colonoscopy..... and invasive procedure. I did not know about the alternative test that uses your DNA to check for cancer cells. Saw it on the TV machine.. I hit him with the "first do no harm" idea. I have no history of colon cancer in my family. Both poop tests looking for blood were negative and the DNA test was negative also.. YMMV.....
Other than that these TV commercials seem to me to be another way of pressuring the doctors to use more drugs on patients.. Salespeople and patienst squeezing the MD in the middle.. Got to sell those drugs now don't cha know....
m
DENVERPOPS
(8,677 posts)And what if that company is in reality doing nothing more than building a huge DNA data base that they can sell for a ton of money to their "real" corporate customers who want the information for nefarious reasons. Couldn't happen? How about Walgreens being nailed twice for doing just that with ALL your prescription information. Think about it......wouldn't life insurance companies love to have that information? Or big pharma. Or countless other entities that can use that information in some way against you?
Of course your doctor has to request that test be sent to you........Do they get a kickback or all expense paid vacation after promoting and requesting a certain amount of tests for their patients?
The truth is the same for the DNA test companies advertising that they will give you an analysis of your lineage.........I would bet that they are just another "collector" of DNA and their real business is selling your information to anyone who wants to buy it......
mitch96
(13,816 posts)After working in hospitals for over 40 years I've seen my share of THAT. Actually the doctor my GP want's me to go to for the colonoscopy is his best buddy. Ahhh....... no..
On that note selling "information" of any kind is big business these days......
m
Response to tomhagen (Original post)
Rainbow Droid This message was self-deleted by its author.
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)you just KNOW they had a whole squadron of lawyers drafting the commercial.