Healthy Skepticism Library item: 20366

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Capozzi JD, Rhodes R
Ethics in Practice : Advertising and Marketing
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 2000 Nov 1; 82:(11):1668-1668
http://jbjs.org/article.aspx?articleid=24482

Abstract:

Introduction
The owners of a major-league professional sports team announced that they would be reconsidering their choice of the team’s physician. Simultaneously, they announced the availability of advertising opportunities for physicians and hospitals. The owners were expecting a long-term commitment of approximately ten million dollars in advertising over a seven-year period. Higher bids were encouraged. Their choice of team physician would be announced after all of the advertising contracts were settled.
Until recently, advertising was viewed as unprofessional and physicians were prohibited from advertising. In some countries (for example, Italy and Germany), the ban on physician advertising persists and governing professional societies regulate and enforce strict limitations on publicity about a physician’s practice. Announcements are limited in size and frequency of appearance, and content is limited to the physician’s name, specialty, office location, and hours of availability.
Over the past twenty years, the limitations on advertising by physicians in the United States have been legally challenged and the United States courts have repeatedly accepted arguments holding that regulation of advertising by medical professional societies constituted a restraint of trade. In effect, a series of legal cases brought an end to the profession’s regulation of medical advertising and opened the door to the vast array of promotional activities that we now commonly encounter in print media and on television, radio, buses, subways, and roadside billboards.
The disparity in attitudes toward medical advertising raises two obvious questions. First, is the aversion to promotional activities merely an aesthetic expression of unseemliness and a social relic of etiquette, or are there important ethical reasons for physicians to avoid advertising? Second, if medical advertising is not unethical, are there moral boundaries that should not be crossed?