What if you discovered that pharmaceutical companies are keeping tabs on the drugs that your doctor is prescribing you?
Pharmaceutical companies have been watching the prescribing habits of thousands of physicians and are using this information for sales and marketing purposes. As you can imagine, this practice, known as prescription data mining, can lead to problems, which is why many healthcare advocates and legal authorities are concerned.
Even though the identity of patients is not released with this information, there are many potential negative effects of analyzing doctors’ habits. Marketing and sales reps may use the information to try to push alternative drugs made by their own companies, by citing selected research data and/or free samples.
The main worry among healthcare advocates and government officials is that these sales tactics could interfere with doctors’ decision making when it comes to prescribing medications. This scenario could occur when physicians don’t take the time to look at the vast amount of studies and carefully weigh the results. Plus, free samples could influence the prescription preference.
Drug mix-ups, overdoses and other medication mistakes are already an issue within the healthcare industry. As a patient, you now have the additional concern of wondering if you are being prescribed the medication that is best suited for you.
Whenever your doctor prescribes you a medication, it is right to assume he or she has taken into account your medical history and whether or not the drug will react adversely with other medications. Unfortunately, doctors sometimes make serious errors. It has been estimated that 1.5 million people suffer from medication errors.
If you have been harmed by a drug error, you may be able to hold the doctor accountable for your injuries. You could be entitled to compensation for any injuries that occurred as a result. For more information regarding your rights in a medication mistake case, contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney in Louisville at Gray and White Law at 1-502-210-8942 or 1-888-450-4456.