Vultures

The ones which disgust me the most are the ones which say, "If your loved one has been the victim of negligence in a nursing home, call this number now and we can guarantee you a cash settlement." As a former LTC nurse, I can say these irresponsible ads fostered an atmosphere of mistrust - not just of families toward staff. It made staff members and administration distrustful of family members. It's impossible to have open, honest dialogue with a resident's family member about improving their care if you feel like they can take anything you tell them and use it as ammunition in an ugly, expensive civil suit, or even a criminal case. And if you don't tell them everything, can they use that against you? Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Everytime I'd see one of these reprehensible commercials, it would just remind me that we all had the Sword of Damocles dangling over our heads with regards to litigation-happy family members. Unfortunately, this kind of thing also damages relations with caring family members who geniunely want what's best for loved ones they feel powerless to help, and that's wrong too. That kind of thing helps foster the same conditions for which nursing homes are notorious for in the public eye.

I saw one just last night about a certain prosthesis used during hip replacements; according to the advertisement, the manufacturer has recalled it as defective after complaints from MDs that the failure rate is high. Made me curious, as I work with lots of orthopedic patients and hadn't heard of this happening!

Here's my favorite tag line, longtime running tv hawk: "If you've been injured, or think you've been injured, call our help line to find out how you can get money".

If you don't KNOW if you've been injured, and need a tv blurb to tell you to THINK about IF you've been injured.....GO AWAY!

How about the ads on the subway for lawyers that list how much money they've won for various birth defects in children. It basically insinuates that if your child has a disability, they can blame and sue the person who delivered him or her, for possibly millions!!! Ugh.

Here's another commercial I recently viewed: "If you were prescribed a certain cholesterol-lowering drug, you might be entitled to money! Please call our law offices for a free consultation!"

I was just about to type the same thing...how insane is that?? They start describing the symptoms of rhabdomyolisis (sorry for typo) and then, say that you can get a cash settlement. Now the absurdity of this is they also have pharmaceutical companies that advertise the statin drugs that warn of these effects. Inserts given by the pharmacy that mention this.

While I know that nurses and physicians are obligated to explain the purpose of medications and their side effects, responsibility also has to be placed on the patient to do their own research. With modern technology and the fact that they do sell drug books for the lay person, there is no excuse to me why so many people still want to place all of the responsibility for their health concerns on us. I tell as many patients as I can to purchase "Best Pills, Worst Pills" or to borrow it from the library to support and clarify what we say in clinic.

These advertisments really make me sick.

I was just about to type the same thing...how insane is that?? They start describing the symptoms of rhabdomyolisis (sorry for typo) and then, say that you can get a cash settlement. Now the absurdity of this is they also have pharmaceutical companies that advertise the statin drugs that warn of these effects. Inserts given by the pharmacy that mention this.

While I know that nurses and physicians are obligated to explain the purpose of medications and their side effects, responsibility also has to be placed on the patient to do their own research. With modern technology and the fact that they do sell drug books for the lay person, there is no excuse to me why so many people still want to place all of the responsibility for their health concerns on us. I tell as many patients as I can to purchase "Best Pills, Worst Pills" or to borrow it from the library to support and clarify what we say in clinic.

These advertisments really make me sick.

The American public wants zero culpability for their actions. Any actions. Anytime. They want "someone" to fix their years of inactivity, poor diet, poor exercise, poor lifestyle choices. They want "someone" to take care of whatever problems they've either caused themselves, OR "someone" to fix whatever life just happened to dump on them. And it's always "someone's" fault when it can't be fixed, or not fixed as well as they'd like. Meaning perfectly. And if they themselves don't make the best choice when it comes to healthcare options they are presented? That's ok, "someone else" will take the blame. After all, THEY can't be responsible for ANY of it.

"Someone will pay", don't worry...just ask the TV Lawyers.

Ugh....I really can't stand those commercials!!!

While I know that nurses and physicians are obligated to explain the purpose of medications and their side effects, responsibility also has to be placed on the patient to do their own research. With modern technology and the fact that they do sell drug books for the lay person, there is no excuse to me why so many people still want to place all of the responsibility for their health concerns on us. I tell as many patients as I can to purchase "Best Pills, Worst Pills" or to borrow it from the library to support and clarify what we say in clinic.

I really don't like these commercials either as I think they encourage people to see wrong doing where there is none and take the focus off of those situations where they REALLY should be upset.

But this comment, I disagree with. I don't think its fair to expect patients to go look up their meds on the web or on a (possibly outdated) drug guide. I also think that our physicians/nurses should definitely be in full disclosure mode, and while I would appreciate the reccomendation of a good drug book, I would hope that it would be in regards to OTHER drugs, and not the one that they were giving me at that moment. I would really like to have a full disclosure of possible side effects when I get a medication. Call me crazy if you will, but it would make me feel better to know that I may experience appetite loss and blurred vision and what my provider wants me to do if they happen, than go home and get blurred vision and do a search for lisinopril + vision on the net to see if thats why I'm having trouble seeing all of a sudden... or worse yet, delay starting meds because we feel as though we need to look them up first to make sure we are aware of all the side effects.

But this comment, I disagree with. I don't think its fair to expect patients to go look up their meds on the web or on a (possibly outdated) drug guide. I also think that our physicians/nurses should definitely be in full disclosure mode, and while I would appreciate the reccomendation of a good drug book, I would hope that it would be in regards to OTHER drugs, and not the one that they were giving me at that moment. I would really like to have a full disclosure of possible side effects when I get a medication. Call me crazy if you will, but it would make me feel better to know that I may experience appetite loss and blurred vision and what my provider wants me to do if they happen, than go home and get blurred vision and do a search for lisinopril + vision on the net to see if thats why I'm having trouble seeing all of a sudden... or worse yet, delay starting meds because we feel as though we need to look them up first to make sure we are aware of all the side effects.

Why isn't it fair? My pharmacy includes an insert written in plain English about the risks, benefits, and side effects of the medication. It takes 2 minutes to read. Otherwise, we have many trustworthy websites out there that tell the public what they need to know upon a quick search of the medication. For those without internet, someone at the pharmacy or at the doctor's office will give a description of the medication if someone gets home and calls to find out if they didn't previously get the information he or she was seeking. However, I totally agree--full disclosure by healthcare professionals is best in regards to medicines.

I think it is of utmost importance for people to know what they doing with their bodies when they take something designed to change an aspect of their body's mechanisms.

Its not that I would not go look up my meds, just that I don't think we should assume that they will, and it would be better (IMO) for the patient/provider relationship to explain to them what they are getting and why.

I can't help but think of all of the epidurals and pitocin administered without a full disclosure to women in labor, and wish that someone was held accountable to be more clear on the side effects, but I guess I'm going off on a personal tangent here.

Sorry :) everything goes back to my "what would I do if I was in the patient's seat" mentality. Its terrible. :)

Its not that I would not go look up my meds, just that I don't think we should assume that they will, and it would be better (IMO) for the patient/provider relationship to explain to them what they are getting and why.

I can't help but think of all of the epidurals and pitocin administered without a full disclosure to women in labor, and wish that someone was held accountable to be more clear on the side effects, but I guess I'm going off on a personal tangent here.

Sorry :) everything goes back to my "what would I do if I was in the patient's seat" mentality. Its terrible. :)

I totally agree with everything you just said, particularly the women in labor part. :)