No names are listed, however the ad consumers are directed to lists the names of two medical doctors and one physician assistant. All are licensed with the State of Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA).
Millie Flanigan, PA.0001325
Phaedra Fegley, DR.0043109
Rosanne Iversen, DR.0031614
This is important for consumers because this enterprise, which is also listed under Aesthetics & Skin Care, Family Medicine, and Nutrition & Diet, promotes supplements and complementary and alternative practices in its listings, as well as the ad consumers are directed to and the website provided. For consumers, having the information that these individuals are licensed in the medical field and dabbling in alternative practice, which is generally considered less safe and effective than science-based medicine, can help to determine whether this type of enterprise would be a good choice for health care.
Medical professionals who promote supplements and complementary and alternative practices are not common due to ethics and exploitation issues.
"The for-profit sale of goods to patients by physicians inherently creates a conflict of interest. Physicians engaging in this activity have a direct financial interest in selling the goods to patients; but the sale may or may not be in the best interests of the patients. Physicians may be tempted to sell items for profit even though their patients do not need the products. Even if most physicians are capable of resisting such temptation, the more ethical course is for professionals to avoid placing themselves in temptation's way, This conflict of interest is particularly troubling in the office setting, where most patients appear because they are in need of medical attention. In the ordinary market setting, consumers can be trusted not to purchase items which they do not want, thus a voluntary sales transaction is taken to be in the best interests of both parties. But the voluntariness of any sale to a patient in a medical office setting is open to serious question. . . .
The offer of goods In the treatment setting puts subtle pressure on sick and vulnerable patients to purchase them. Patients may purchase goods out of a misplaced desire to please or to "get in good" with their physicians. They may feel that they have to purchase those goods in order to secure the physician's favor. These feelings, whether justified or not, may interfere with the open exchange and the level of trust between physician and patient"
From American Medical Association
Council on Ethics and Judicial Affairs (CEJA)
Policy Statement
No reliable statistics exist on how many doctors sell such products, and those who do are breaking no law. Yet for many experts, legality is beside the point.
''You can't exploit the patient for your own financial interest,'' said Dr. Leonard Morse, chairman of the American Medical Association's council on ethical and judicial affairs. ''This is a doctor-patient relationship, and your patient's interest transcends your financial interest.''
Dr. Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch, a medical watchdog Web site, put it this way: ''I tell people to avoid doctors who sell vitamins. It's a sign of bad judgment; you've made a wrong scientific judgment, in addition to which you're selling to a captive audience at a price that's inflated.''
From the American Medical Association (AMA), Opinion 8.063 – Sale of Health-Related Products from Physicians’ Offices
In-office sale of health-related products by physicians presents a financial conflict of interest, risks placing undue pressure on the patient, and threatens to erode patient trust and undermine the primary obligation of physicians to serve the interests of their patients before their own.
(1) Physicians who choose to sell health-related products from their offices should not sell any health-related products whose claims of benefit lack scientific validity. When judging the efficacy of a product, physicians should rely on peer-reviewed literature and other unbiased scientific sources that review evidence in a sound, systematic, and reliable fashion.
(2) Because of the risk of patient exploitation and the potential to demean the profession of medicine, physicians who choose to sell health-related products from their offices must take steps to minimize their financial conflicts of interest. The following guidelines apply:
(a) In general, physicians should limit sales to products that serve the immediate and pressing needs of their patients. For example, if traveling to the closest pharmacy would in some way jeopardize the welfare of the patient (eg, forcing a patient with a broken leg to travel to a local pharmacy for crutches), then it may be appropriate to provide the product from the physician’s office. These conditions are explained in more detail in the Council’s Opinion 8.06, "Prescribing and Dispensing Drugs and Devices," and are analogous to situations that constitute exceptions to the permissibility of self-referral.
(b) Physicians may distribute other health-related products to their patients free of charge or at cost, in order to make useful products readily available to their patients. When health-related products are offered free or at cost, it helps to ensure removal of the elements of personal gain and financial conflicts of interest that may interfere, or appear to interfere, with the physician’s independent medical judgment.
(3) Physicians must disclose fully the nature of their financial arrangement with a manufacturer or supplier to sell health-related products. Disclosure includes informing patients of financial interests as well as about the availability of the product or other equivalent products elsewhere. Disclosure can be accomplished through face-to-face communication or by posting an easily understandable written notification in a prominent location that is accessible by all patients in the office. In addition, physicians should, upon request, provide patients with understandable literature that relies on scientific standards in addressing the risks, benefits, and limits of knowledge regarding the health-related product.
(4) Physicians should not participate in exclusive distributorships of health-related products which are available only through physicians’ offices. Physicians should encourage manufacturers to make products of established benefit more fairly and more widely accessible to patients than exclusive distribution mechanisms allow. (II)
Issued December 1999 based on the report "Sale of Health-Related Products from Physicians' Offices," adopted June 1999.
No comments:
Post a Comment