I've finally used up the last of my stash. After years of accumulating drug rep pens, I have finally run out. They have all been used or the ink has dried up inside so they won't write. Well it was fun while it lasted. I remember the good old days when the salesmen from the pharmaceutical companies would bring breakfasts or lunches to the doctor's lounge. For five minutes of my divided attention I could get a nice pasta or baked chicken lunch while getting educated on the advantages of their latest product offerings. Of course I would try to grab a few pens and notepads on the way out.
This was all strictly educational of course. I had no control over what kind of drugs I could use. That was controlled by the hospital pharmacy. I decided in the operating room which drugs were best for my patients, not what the drug rep told me was the best on the market. I'm not so greedy as to use medications just because somebody bought me a sesame bagel with a large schmear of lox for breakfast.
But a a few years ago our wise politicians decided that doctors were being bribed by drug companies into prescribing expensive meds. They believed this was the reason healthcare costs were rising at unsustainable rates. How can doctors possibly not be affected by all the free gifts that were being showered on us? Who couldn't resist the sales pitches of these oily drug reps as they try to push the latest antibiotics and antihypertensives on us poor helpless physicians? Therefore doctors and hospitals pretty much succumbed to political pressure and bad P.R. and stopped accepting gifts of all kinds, even from grateful patients and families. Now I use scratch paper from the back side of junk faxes and buy my own pens from Costco.
On the other hand, the politicians themselves don't seem to have any second thoughts about receiving presents from the myriad of lobbyists that surround them every day. Even though the election is not even a month old, our good old California elected officials are already grabbing at every freebie they can get their pudgy little hands on. The LA Times reported on a group of newly elected state representatives enjoying a basketball game together in AT&T's luxury box in Sacramento. Says Jose Medina, assemblyman from Riverside, hobnobbing with lobbyists is "part of my job. At the end of the day I'll make my decisions based on what is best for the people I represent." I'm sure the free food and drinks in the luxury suite will have absolutely no bearing on how he votes.
Then there is the group who jetted out to Maui after the election for a five day "conference" on matters important to Californians. The trip was sponsored by a tobacco company, various drug companies, utility companies, and state public workers' unions. As one freshman representative tried to rationalize his reason for flying to Hawaii to learn about California's many problems, "I was learning about the issues. There were some things I didn't know--such as how businesses really need help to flourish here in California." Others flew as far away as Brazil, Australia, and China, on lobbyists' expense, to gain insight on how to help the people who just elected them.
The hypocrisy would be laugh out loud funny if it wasn't so disheartening. Politicians accuse doctors of not being able to tuck a few cheap pens into our pockets without being influenced into prescribing expensive drugs while they have no qualms about accepting tickets and hotel rooms to exotic locales from lobbyists in the name of education. I feel gypped. If I have to accept Obamacare and its impending reimbursement cuts, at least let us have our old pens and notepads back.
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