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A comment on Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the Open Payments Dataset.

Re:Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the O... by Fede_V on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @12:52AM (#10929076)
My favorite tidbit about pharma payments to physicians comes from Ben Goldacre's book, Bad Pharma. Based on a survey, most physicians think that the money doctors receive from pharma definitely affects their prescribing choices, HOWEVER, that only applies to other doctors. Each doctor is convinced that they are perfectly unbiased and that they can receive money without having their opinion swayed, but other doctors are not as strong willed.
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Re:Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the O... by dhimes on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @08:44AM (#10930643)
Yes, the Lake Wobegon Effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon); aka illusory superiority (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority). I can handle it, they can't.
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Re:Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the O... by knowaveragejoe on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @10:28AM (#10931330)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon
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Re:Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the O... by dopamean on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @12:54AM (#10929081)
This sounds like the same thing you often hear about Congress. People like their congressman but think the others are doing a poor job.
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Re:Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the O... by danieltillett on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @05:02AM (#10929671)
Isn't this the same as the rest of the population's opinion about advertising? Everyone thinks advertising works on other people, but not them.
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Re:Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the O... by amelius on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @07:54AM (#10930359)
I wonder how that works, mentally. Most doctors are, I suppose, reasonably intelligent, so I guess that most of them who take bribe-money would prescribe drugs that are from a different brand, just to avoid any suspicion.

(If pharma companies can deduce which brands are prescribed by which doctors, then perhaps there lies a problem we can easily solve.)

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Re:Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the O... by refurb on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @08:50AM (#10930685)
Yes, pharma companies can tell what brands a specific doctor prescribes. Pharmacies sell Rx information to companies like IMS who sell it to pharma companies or pharma companies pay the pharmacies themselves for the information.
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Re:Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the O... by amelius on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @09:15AM (#10930843)
Ugh, this is really sick.
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Re:Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the O... by TheCondor on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @10:21AM (#10931289)
how many bad engineers have you worked with that knew they were bad? The mental tricks probably aren't that difficult, they are simply getting paid to get educated about some new life saving wonder drug.

How about buying technology? You've never been treated to lunch or drinks or something by a vendor? "You aren't buying a product, we are forming a relationship, you'll be a partner in the future of <widget>". Did you guys buy it?

Most doctors are reasonably intelligent on paper, they all have advanced degrees and all their friends think and tell them they are smart... But why would the ratio of great to bad be different than in tech? I'd think that you could "hide" more easily in medicine, there are all sorts of ways to make a big pay check without doctoring, like selling medical marijuana cards or simply selling prescriptions for big pharma, people will actually come in and ask for certain drugs because they saw an ad. Fact is, most sicknesses are defeated by your immune system, not some pills. Cultivate the right practice and they can simply be legal drug dealers, get paid and their customers will be happy. And nobody wants to think their doctor is bad, but before anything substantial or chronic treatment (like you need this drug forever) you should always seek some additional opinions.

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