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It seems like there are quite a lot of relatives/family members of doctors on HN. My wife is a doctor (and she hates most f what she sees in the way the medical

It seems like there are quite a lot of relatives/family members of doctors on HN. My wife is a doctor (and she hates most f what she sees in the way the medical field is run/operating these days), but I try to be impartial about judging them. The general emotion toward doctors on HN or any other Reddit forums is like they can't do no wrong or they are not evil or that they are smart (smarter than average) people (example that I just ran across today on Reddit's front page: https://i.redd.it/bjhk6ozyj7x61.jpg https://i.redd.it/bjhk6ozyj7x61.jpg). That assumption/belief is very different from the reality. After observing and hearing so many stories about doctors (I have quite a lot of doctor friends/acquaintances in the US), my conclusion is that most of them are complicit in some of the things that is wrong with the US medical system these days. A quick anecdote - my wife used to volunteer at a clinic in Chinatown. The doctor always get invites for lunch/dinner from medicine companies and she'd sometimes invite my wife to attend. I was extended an invite to one of them (the doctor knows me via my wife). It was hosted by a rep from Sanofi for the staff of the entire clinic (about 6 people) plus their SOs (including myself and the doctor's husband). There were a total of ~10 people at the dinner and the doctor gets to pick the restaurant so she picked one of the most expensive hotpot restaurants in Chinatown. We ordered lots of grade A beef slices and other expensive goodies. The rep, who is white, curried favors with the doc and the nurses/staff members all evening (to the point that I felt cringe at one point when she says something like this to an asian nurse, "I really like your Asian skin and hair; it's so smooth and glowing"). My estimate is that the dinner bill came out to at least $2000. That dinner, according to the doctor, happens every year with this particular company. Of course, I had to sign on a sheet (roll-call if you will) to acknowledge that I attended the dinner (I presume it's for the rep to reclaim expenses). I can only imagine how much/many drugs from Sanofi that the doctor is prescribing to her patients throughout the year. Another anecdote - my host-family mom is a psychiatrist (the doctor type; not the other psychiatrist kind). She worked for a private mental institution near Philadelphia. There, they have about 20 mentally-challenged patients, 4-5 nurses and my host-family mom. I have accompanied her to there a couple of times and spent ~6 hours while she was touring and meeting with the patients. Both times, a rep from a medicine company brought lunch for the host-family mom and all the staff. Once was just pizza. Another time was some sort of sandwich and stuff. According to my host-family mom, that's pretty typical and they have about two or so such lunch from medicine company reps every week.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
> Another anecdote - my host-family mom is a psychiatrist (the doctor type; not the other psychiatrist kind). In the US, a psychiatrist is a medical doctor, MD or DO. The other kind is a psychologist, who are not medical doctors, and can only prescribe in a small number of states.
IG_Semmelweiss 5y ago
This is not unusual. It also complies with law as long as the entire staff have access to the same perks as the doctor. Morally ambiguous, but certainly within the law. I can tell you most rank and file really love this
- Red_Leaves_Flyy 5y ago
  >I can tell you most rank and file really love this Let them feel like they're getting something special and you can roll the safe out the front door.
refurb 5y ago
Assuming the details of your story are accurate, that dinner violates a number of norms and industry standards. Reps can pay for dinners where clinical presentations are made (educational events). Budgets are supposed to be capped and reasonable. Non-physicians are not allowed to attend. Not saying your story isn’t true, just saying there are already rules around not doing those things. Oh, and your sign in sheet will record how much was spent on your meal and it’s should be on the Sunshine Act website that is publicly accessible. https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/search https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/search
matheusmoreira 5y ago
> It seems like there are quite a lot of relatives/family members of doctors on HN. Lots of actual doctors on HN. It's true, pharmaceutical companies do market directly to doctors. The most positive form of marketing for patients is when they provide doctors with free samples of drugs they were going to prescribe anyway. In my country generic drugs are not always the most reliable option and having more trustworthy alternatives really helps. This isn't drug marketing speaking either, there have been actual newsworthy scandals involving "mismanagement" of taxpayer money meant to pay for the production of basic hypertension drugs.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

> Another anecdote - my host-family mom is a psychiatrist (the doctor type; not the other psychiatrist kind). In the US, a psychiatrist is a medical doctor, MD or DO. The other kind is a psychologist, who are not medical doctors, and can only prescribe in a small number of states.

IG_Semmelweiss 5y ago

This is not unusual. It also complies with law as long as the entire staff have access to the same perks as the doctor. Morally ambiguous, but certainly within the law. I can tell you most rank and file really love this

Red_Leaves_Flyy 5y ago
>I can tell you most rank and file really love this Let them feel like they're getting something special and you can roll the safe out the front door.

refurb 5y ago

Assuming the details of your story are accurate, that dinner violates a number of norms and industry standards. Reps can pay for dinners where clinical presentations are made (educational events). Budgets are supposed to be capped and reasonable. Non-physicians are not allowed to attend. Not saying your story isn’t true, just saying there are already rules around not doing those things. Oh, and your sign in sheet will record how much was spent on your meal and it’s should be on the Sunshine Act website that is publicly accessible. https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/search https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/search

matheusmoreira 5y ago

> It seems like there are quite a lot of relatives/family members of doctors on HN. Lots of actual doctors on HN. It's true, pharmaceutical companies do market directly to doctors. The most positive form of marketing for patients is when they provide doctors with free samples of drugs they were going to prescribe anyway. In my country generic drugs are not always the most reliable option and having more trustworthy alternatives really helps. This isn't drug marketing speaking either, there have been actual newsworthy scandals involving "mismanagement" of taxpayer money meant to pay for the production of basic hypertension drugs.