What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know Can Kill You

An international study involving more than 250 doctors shows that your physician may be endangering your life when he ignorantly follows some of the recommendations of medical salesmen. But you can protect yourself.

The research, involving 255 doctors in Canada, the United States and France, shows that most doctors are eager to dole out prescriptions after being given a pitch by the medical sales reps employed by pharmaceutical companies. They do this even though they have little or no idea of the possible dangerous side effects of the pharmaceuticals they are giving to patients.

The scientists conducting the study gathered information about more than 1,600 drugs pushed by sales reps in 2009 and 2010. The researchers were shocked to find that only 6 percent of the sales presentations even bothered to mention serious adverse side effects.

Despite the fact that the doctors knew just about nothing about the drug’s side effects, 67 percent of them said the sales presentations probably would motivate them to prescribe the products.

To protect yourself, be cautious about taking drugs recently introduced to the market and do the research yourself on the Internet to learn all of the possible side effects of medications your doctor prescribes.