Overtreated Pt2

Not a whole lot going on today! I am still waiting for The Call. I think that's what I am going to call it from now on lol. I am about done reading "Overtreated". WOW, everyone needs to read that book! There is so much in it to talk about I think I would have to write several blogs about it. One chapter, called "Money, Drugs, and Lies" talks about how drug companies spun their drug testing to hide risks. It also talks about drug representatives and how they influence doctor's prescribing habits. The most heavily marketed drugs are the ones Physicians wind up prescribing. The reps give the doctors all kinds of expensive gifts, dinners, even pay for home improvements to get them to use their drugs.
Another chapter talked about the New England Journal of Medicine and how they are influenced by the pharm. Industry. Doctors have to be taught how to read through the bias of the articles to make sure they are giving their patients the right medicine.
On the other hand, the book also talks about patients and how they diagnose themselves on the internet, and then go to their doctors and tell them what they have, then tell them what drug they want. the doctors have a horrible time convincing them they really don't have that problem, but apparently alot of times they don't have the time to argue with a patient, so they give them what they want.
Alot of time is also given to insurance companies, and how family physicians who just want to practice family medicine can't because when companies change insurance policies, the patients go too.
Again, the book is called "Overtreated; Why too much medicine is making us sicker and poorer" by Shannon Brownlee.