Is Your Doctor Taking Bribes From BigPharma?

By Dr. Mercola

Pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars to influence, “educate,” and entertain doctors around the world.¹

According to ProPublica’s “Dollars for Docs” website, which you can use to find out if your doctor accepts money from the drug industry, 1,630 companies have made payments to more than 681,000 doctors, totaling more than $3.5 billion.²

You can also find out if your doctor receives payments from Big Pharma by visiting OpenPaymentsData.CMS.gov. This site has tallied nearly $6.5 billion in payments since 2013.³

In an Era of Bias, Conflict of Interest and Confusion: Take Control of Your Health

Virtually every measurable index indicates that despite the ever-increasing amounts of money invested, if you live in the U.S., your chance of achieving optimal health through the conventional medical system is getting progressively worse. As just one example, while the U.S. spends more than twice the amount on health care as other developed nations, we rank 49th in life expectancy worldwide — far lower than most other developed nations.

When it comes to your health, you simply cannot accept claims at their face value. Quite often — definitely too frequently for comfort — treatment recommendations are biased in favor of a specific drug simply because people making the decisions stand to profit from it.

Whatever your health problem might be, I strongly recommend digging below the surface using all the resources available to you; including your own common sense and reason, true independent experts’ advice and others’ experiences to determine what medical treatment or advice will be best for you.

Ultimately, you are responsible for your and your family’s health, so be sure you feel completely comfortable with any related decisions you make. If you’re facing a health challenge, choose health care practitioners who really understand health at a foundational level, and have extensive experience helping others (and don’t be afraid to ask for references and seek corroboration).

I always advise taking control of your health as well, which you can easily do by reviewing my comprehensive nutrition plan that summarizes my 30 years of clinical experience and treating 25,000 patients.

I put this together so you can stay well and avoid having to rely on information that gives the perception of science when it is actually too heavily flawed or manipulated to benefit your health. Most of us live in free enough countries where we still have the ability to take back control of our health — we just need to grab the initiative.

And remember, if you want to find out whether your doctor is receiving payments from the drug industry, visit OpenPaymentsdata.cms.gov or Pro Publica’s Dollars for Docs.

Sources and References

• NutritionFacts.org December 4, 2015

• ^1, 8 J R Soc Med. 2006 Jun; 99(6): 292–297.
• ² Pro Publica, Dollars for Docs
• ³ OpenPaymentsData.CMS.gov
• ^4, 7 JAMA. 2000 Jan 19;283(3):373-80.
• ⁵ N Engl J Med 2007; 356:1742-1750
• ⁶ J Gen Intern Med. 2007 Feb;22(2):184-90.
• ^9, 10 Fam Med. 2012 May;44(5):325-31.
• ¹¹ Milbank Quarterly 2014: 92(3)

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