(Snippets from the frontline)
The moral gray zone
After eating a steak dinner paid by a pharmaceutical company, is it acceptable for a doctor to prescribe their new marketed drug? For years, the debate whether “gifts” influenced medical decision-making has languished in a moral gray zone.
What if your hospitalizing doctor receives a “bonus” for discharging you early? You might ask if they receive monetary incentives from a hospital “quality efficiency performance program.” If so, they may again be tempted into that moral gray zone.
When business took over the medical profession decades ago, government and the public were convinced of blatant waste in healthcare…which was true. Instead of this waste being converted to savings, it was stuffed into the back pocket of profiteers, negatively effecting patient care.
Statistically, healthcare is suffering (decreasing life expectancy, increasing hospital readmissions, etc.), and trust in the medical profession has eroded while doctors are seen as an enabling partner of profiteering business interests.
Healthcare in our country is flawed, and many physicians have bought into the business concept stepping into the moral gray zone.
Doctors should be your advocate, and not hungry for a steak dinner.
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
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