For all of the ridiculousness that seems to happen in Massachusetts (stupid bomb scares, gorillas on the loose, the Big Dig, Mitt Romney, I do like to think that we’re ahead of the curve overall. So I was pleased to read that our state legislature was seeking to ban gifts to doctors.

Coming up through the ranks, it was easy to see the pervasiveness of drug company marketing in the form of gifts and freebies. Pens, notepads, microfiber lens cloths, and the occasional pocket guide were just the tip of the iceberg. The “Cipro breakfast” was well known among the medical students as a good place for a nice free meal. Drug-sponsored lunch conferences were always popular, and the exalted drug dinner, which we were rarely privy to as mere medical students, was sought after highly. Luckily, the idea that accepting these sort of inducements was, at best, ethically iffy and, at worst, altering our medical decision-making was filtering up through the medical school and medical staff. The behavior, if not frowned upon sternly, was at least questioned.

Unfortunately, here I am almost ten years later watching the same conflict play out. We already have a strong inkling that pharmaceutical company contact with physicians changes prescribing practices. Indeed, one would hardly expect the pharmaceutical companies to continue pursuing this expensive tactic if it didn’t work. Yet still we allow them easy access to medical students (this thread is disturbing to me), residents, and physicians through free meals, freebie items, drug samples, sponsored CME, and other such means. And even if you don’t believe a simple logo pen could affect someone’s medical practice, you have to admit it looks really fishy to a patient when you sign a prescription for them using a pen with the same drug’s logo on it. It’s just a bad idea medically and ethically.

So I, for one, will cheer on Therese Murray’s efforts in this regard, and I support other states’ efforts with similar measures. If you, as a physician, would rather not see the government stepping in in this way, then alter your actions so they don’t see the need to step in. As a practicing physician, I’ve tried hard to refuse any and all gifts or inducements from drug companies, even pens. I’m such a bastard that when I cover for another doc’s primary care practice, I won’t even sign for the practice’s drug samples. (And it even turns out that free drug samples aren’t the safety net we like to believe they are.) I think if everyone moves in a similar fashion to stem the tide of these inducements, the end result may very well be the better practice of medicine - based on the best scientific evidence, not on what ad we last saw - and possibly more cost-efficient medicine as we forego the latest shiny name brand drug for the generic that works just as well.