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Pharma Virumque | Slate Star Codex

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Going around the psychiatry blogosphere recently: this segment by John Oliver about doctors who take pharmaceutical company money: I will resist the urge to geek out about its minor medical errors1 in favor of clarifying something more important. The impression you’re supposed to get from this piece is a shady looking man handing you a briefcase full of cash and whispering “Hey, here’s $10,000 for you if you prescribe unnecessary medication.” The implication is the doctors who do this are awful and if you were in medicine you would have no trouble resisting this temptation. In reality, pharma companies have figured out that some people have ethical qualms – “evil cannot possibly understand good” only works in movies – and adjusted their strategies accordingly. We’ll start with a simple one. Imagine you’re a doctor, and your staff are complaining because the staff at every other doctor’s office has been getting these incredible free lunches every day – the video says drug companies aren

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