Healthy Skepticism Library item: 6770

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

Margolis LH.
Personal use of drug samples by physicians and office staff.
JAMA 1997 Nov 19; 278:(19):1567

Abstract:

The use of drug samples by physicians is unethical because it violates at least three duties of physicians. The duty to do no harm is violated because samples raise the cost of care to patients. The duty of fidelity is transgressed because the acceptance of samples for personal use makes the physician agent of the pharmaceutical companies that provide them. Physicians have a duty to uphold justice. It is hardly fair for physicians to take “gifts” from their patients when patients have not freely chosen to make those gifts. With even a simple understanding of the ethics of this issue, physicians should reject the use of samples.

Keywords:
*letter to the editor/United States/ Advertising* Drug Industry* Drug Utilization* Ethics* Gift Giving* Humans Interprofessional Relations Medical Staff* Physicians* Risk Assessment United States