The Masters of Manipulation

Look at the prescription anyone is currently on and ask yourself a few simple questions. How did this drug become popular in the market and how did people come up with it? These are questions that some people in the medical field are asking as more and more medical practitioners are getting paid by the vary drug companies they order from. While reading Selling Sickness by Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels, these men are uncovering very interesting facts in the medical field that are hidden from the public. They are exploring why these pharmaceutical companies grow so widely in a matter of a few years. Next time you go to the doctor, there may be a prescription that is recommended for you.

Everyone goes to the doctor to get cured from a sickness they think they have, but would if the doctors are actually making you feel more sick then you really are? There has been research done that proves pharmaceutical companies are paying doctors to sell their product. Therefor, the more the doctor prescribes then the more the pharmaceutical company makes. So it just makes me wonder, then whose fault is it for making everyone depend on medication. Is it the doctors fault for prescribing it, or the pharmaceutical companies fault for bribing the doctors?

They first take a look at a problem that is sweeping across America and many other countries. High cholesterol is a very common problem, but now it seems as if they recommend half the adult American population to be on a prescription for it. Companies such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and most of all Lipitor have been booming from the recent concern that high cholesterol can cause many other conditions such as heart attack and stroke. These men who researched for this book collected some very interesting information. During the developing research of high cholesterol, in the early 1990's there were approximately 13 million Americans that could have benefited from medication due to high cholesterol. Due to the broadening of guidelines that consider Americans having high cholesterol, by 2004 they considered over 40 million Americans having high cholesterol. I do understand that there could be other aspects that could raise these rates such as food or exercise, but the drug companies every few years review the guidelines that doctors use to diagnose health problems such as high cholesterol.

The pharmaceutical companies, as some may say, dominate medicine. They have the power to influence doctors, persuade patients, and put out massive amounts of drugs to flow through every pharmacy throughout the world. When you go to a pharmacy and look around through the rows and rows of medicine bottles, there is always some multimillion dollar company behind it. The pharmacists are given the supplies to distribute as needed, and recently the numbers are growing. It would be interesting to see how the number of prescriptions grow from one year to the next. These medical giants have the power to make any sort of drug famous throughout the world just by influence and a little manipulation. They tell doctors all the benefits, show all the good research they have, and finally see who caught on to their presentation. Some research shows that some doctors that innocently attend these conferences become paid speakers themselves for various drug companies. Doctors would be getting their own salary, plus the payment from the drug companies for being an advocate for it. They have nothing to lose by being apart of the massive companies that everyone who needs medication relies on. In the past few years, pharmaceutical companies have grown massively and we are all along for the ride. I plan to read more of this interesting research out of the book and report back on any new ways we are being manipulated and not realizing it. Think twice next time your doctor prescribes something you may not need.