Quotes About Doctors

Richard and his senior executives now devised a cunning strategy, which they outlined in a series of emails. If the true personality of oxycodone was misunderstood by America's doctors, the company would not correct that misunderstanding. Instead, they would exploit it.

As I make clear throughout the book, OxyContin was hardly the only opioid to be fraudulently marketed or widely abused, and my choice to focus on Purdue is in no way a suggestion that other pharmaceutical companies do not deserve a great deal of blame for the crisis. The same could be said for the FDA, the doctors who wrote prescriptions, the wholesalers that distributed the opioids, and the pharmacies that filled the prescriptions.

The marketing of OxyContin relied on an empirical circularity: the company convinced doctors of the drug's safety with literature that had been produced by doctors who were paid, or funded, by the company.

The whole system of fee-for-service payment is upside down. Doctors shouldn't profit from sickness. They should be rewarded for keeping people well.

But what about the more emotional side of empathy? Here it's more complicated. He seemed to get the most from doctors who didn't feel as he did, who were calm when he was anxious, confident when he was uncertain. And he was particularly appreciative of certain virtues that have little directly to do with empathy, such as competence, honesty, professionalism, and certainly respect.

America's health care system provides some of the finest doctors and more access to vital medications than any country in the world. And yet, our system has been faltering for many years with the increased cost of health care.

According to the forensic psychiatrist Robert Simon, the author of Bad Men Do What Good Men Dream , the following statements are true: "Psychiatrists have long known that the most dangerous time is during the first visit with an unknown patient. According to an American Psychiatric Association Task Force Report, 40% of psychiatrists are assaulted during their careers. Nearly three-fourths of assaults against all physicians occurred during the first meeting of doctor and patient.

Everyone in the business of cancer, from the doctors and nurses to the salespeople in the shops, seems to know just how to handle me. Do they go through some special training to make everything seem pleasant and natural?

The study went on to state that by prescribing toxic drugs, performing unnecessary surgeries, or simply making a mistake, doctors are causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of patients every year.

Others follow medical instructions to the letter, yet never ask questions of their doctors nor provide any feedback to them. The latter group may get a handle on their blood sugar levels, but are so miserable it hardly matters.

Doctors don't go through life mentally integrating trial results; but any automaton who had regulated his practice that way would have been in danger of underprescribing.