# Why do doctors over prescribe drugs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 23, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575 "2012-03-23T03:22:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jmiller15](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@jmiller15](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmiller15)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/1 "2012-03-23T03:22:14Z")
What is your opinion on this topic? It just seems like so many people these days are on antidepressants and seems like they make up disorders just so the drug companies can make money. I think they are brain washing Americans. I seriously heard an advertisement for shift change disorder and a new drug that will treat it. Granted I know some medications are necessary. However I know there are so many natural cures out there but if a doctor dare go against the medical board and practice alternative medicine, they will have their licence pulled. For example you may have heard of the Gerson institute or the Movie "Gerson Miracle. Mr. Gerson had a 99% cure rate for cancer by using a special raw food diet, even in terminally ill patients. But the drug company and government took his medical license since he didn’t follow the medical community ways. He has since passed away and his daughter has taken over the practice and they now have to operate in Mexico. I strongly believe the drug companies are working with the Government. Could this be population control? Very sad!!! What’s your opinion? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/2 "2012-03-23T03:27:06Z")
Another name for alternative medicine is medicine that does not work. Raw foods will not cure cancer. There are hundreds of different cancers and all need different treatments. These people you’re describing are known as quacks and frauds and prey on the desperate. Reported for possible forum change. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/3 "2012-03-23T03:28:50Z")
Let’s move this over to Great Debates. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/4 "2012-03-23T04:07:46Z")
**Why do doctors over prescribe drugs?** Because patients over-demand them. If someone goes to see a doctor with a cold, and the doctor tells them to “rest in bed, drink plenty of fluids, and take aspirin for headaches & fever”, their reaction is likely to be “I paid a $75 co-pay for that?”. Patients are unhappy with that, and want more. So doctors prescribe drugs: a prescription pain/fever reducer (to do what the aspirin would have done), a decongestant (to do what a vaporizer would have done), etc. You could argue that patients demand drugs because the drug company advertising & TV medical shows have brainwashed the into doing so. But doctors don’t want to argue with their patients, so they just write the prescriptions. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/5 "2012-03-23T04:10:28Z")
Yeah, he said it while I was reviewing. That’s it exactly. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/6 "2012-03-23T04:29:45Z")
Yep, I agree. It’s mainly because moms (mostly moms) instist that something, anything be done to make little Joey or Suzy feel better. The put the kid to bed, let 'em rest and they should be fine doesn’t sit well. Then as said above, the adults aren’t much better. They are spending money and the doctor better do something. I mean after all he/she went to school for 12 years and get some rest isn’t gong to cut it. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/7 "2012-03-23T04:53:54Z")
As somebody once put it (perhaps here?), alternative medicine that works is just called “medicine.” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/8 "2012-03-23T04:55:24Z")
> [@jmiller15](#): > > For example you may have heard of the Gerson institute or the Movie "Gerson Miracle. Mr. Gerson had a 99% cure rate for cancer by using a special raw food diet, even in terminally ill patients. But the drug company and government took his medical license since he didn’t follow the medical community ways. He has since passed away and his daughter has taken over the practice and they now have to operate in Mexico. Max Gerson was a quack. A raw vegetarian diet combined with enemas of coffee and hydrogen peroxide won’t cure cancer. > [@](#): > > I strongly believe the drug companies are working with the Government. Could this be population control? Very sad!!! What’s your opinion? It’d be a piss poor method of population control don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/9 "2012-03-23T05:01:46Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Max Gerson was a quack. A raw vegetarian diet combined with enemas of coffee and hydrogen peroxide won’t cure cancer. Sounds like a load of shit to me. Seriously, though – apparently not only was he a quack, his methods were [dangerous](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Gerson) as well, and some of them have been banned in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/10 "2012-03-23T06:33:31Z")
> [@jmiller15](#): > > What is your opinion on this topic? It just seems like so many people these days are on antidepressants and seems like they make up disorders just so the drug companies can make money. I think they are brain washing Americans. I seriously heard an advertisement for shift change disorder and a new drug that will treat it. Granted I know some medications are necessary. However I know there are so many natural cures out there but if a doctor dare go against the medical board and practice alternative medicine, they will have their licence pulled…What’s your opinion? It depends on the doctor. Some would rather prescribe less drugs and don’t like the TV drug ads. Other doctors seem overzealous with the drugs. I had a doctor prescribe stomach acid reducing drug for me without discussion, and all it did was give me bad side effects so my stomach hurt. When I researched it online, I stopped taking it, and he seemed unhappy about it the next time I saw him. I think antidepressant drugs are shortsighted because they just attempt to treat the symptom, but it’s the cause that needs fixing. A lot of people are depressed simply because they’re ugly, poor or whatever, and nothing can easily be done to make them happy, except maybe sending hookers over or giving them money. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/11 "2012-03-23T06:40:45Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > A lot of people are depressed simply because they’re ugly, poor or whatever, and nothing can easily be done to make them happy, except maybe sending hookers over or giving them money. Now there’s a health care program I could support! 😃 “A hooker a day keeps the doctor away! Well, until the STDs get you.” ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/12 "2012-03-23T07:32:16Z")
When did you stop beating your spouse? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/13 "2012-03-23T10:20:29Z")
What’s the evidence supporting the claim that medications are overprescribed? By how much are they overprescribed? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/14 "2012-03-23T10:41:28Z")
Wow, the _drug company_ took away his medical license? Tell me more. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/15 "2012-03-23T11:27:10Z")
There’s this notion that there’s overprescribing of medication simply because mpre people are taking more drugs than they did in the past. But that’s not evidence of anything other untoward by itself. Medical science has improved. Diagnostic capabilities have improved. More people have lives that they value enough to want to optimize their quality of life, for as long as possible. There is more compassion towards children who are suffering and more expectations for them to do well despite their problems. Until you factor in all of these variables, it is difficult to say that people are being prescribed drugs when they shouldn’t be. It is also unfortunate that drugs often come with side-effects that necessitate treatment. Is someone who has drug-induced hypertension because of their arthritis medication supposed to just suck it up? What if the arthritis medication enables them to keep working and contributing positively to society? For years I refused to take drugs. But one day I realized I was being foolish. There is no virtue in suffering just for the sake of it. I limit my medication to the minimum necessary to keep myself from having a sad existence–with my doctor’s full awareness and respect. But I’m not going to be ashamed because I’m trying to cope with symptoms that the sanctimonious crew can’t even imagine. From my experience, it seems like people who rally against the evils of the drugs have conveniently never had health problems serious enough to warrant medication. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/16 "2012-03-23T14:27:09Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Wow, the _drug company_ took away his medical license? Tell me more. It got worse for him; Ford took away his driver’s license. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/17 "2012-03-23T14:54:54Z")
Taking it for granted that doctors do overprescribe medications for certain illnesses, you could blame several groups: patients for demanding medication where it isn’t warranted (doctors go out of business if they have no patients), pharmaceutical companies (for their marketing), and doctors (for not saying no). I’m not saying there are no conditions that are overtreated or overdiagnosed, but in a lot of cases, the more you examine them, the harder it is to identify these kinds of things for sure. A lot of the time I think people are just going off their reactions to data: ‘[X percent] of people are diagnosed with ADD? That _can’t_ be right.’ > [@jmiller15](#): > > if a doctor dare go against the medical board and practice alternative medicine, they will have their licence pulled. That’s not how that works. Doctors are allowed to make their own decisions; if they fail to follow accepted practices or screw up repeatedly, they can lose their licenses. > [@](#): > > But the drug company and government took his medical license since he didn’t follow the medical community ways. Drug companies don’t license doctors. And from what I can tell, Max Gerson was the worst kind of quack. He made grandiose claims and was sloppy about collecting data, his treatments didn’t cure cancer, and they made people sick. You should always be very suspicious of people who promise miracle cures or simple treatments for complicated illnesses, and you should be double-very-suspicious of people who say they have developed a cure for something and a conspiracy is trying to cover it up. > [@](#): > > I strongly believe the drug companies are working with the Government. In what way? > [@](#): > > Could this be population control? No. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/18 "2012-03-23T14:57:37Z")
> [@jmiller15](#): > > For example you may have heard of the Gerson institute or the Movie "Gerson Miracle. Mr. Gerson had a 99% cure rate for cancer by using a special raw food diet, even in terminally ill patients. Let’s examine this claim shall we? Oh look. Here’s a [nice page](http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-not-so-beautiful-untruth-about-the-gerson-therapy-and-cancer-quackery/) written by a cancer researcher that rips the Gerson movie a new asshole. > [@](#): > > Gerson’s “evidence” in the form of his case series was examined by the National Cancer Institute back in the 1950s, and this is what was found: > … > Charlotte Gerson claims that treatment at the clinic has produced high cure rates for many cancers. In 1986, however, investigators learned that patients were not monitored after they left the facility. Although clinic personnel later said they would follow their patients systematically, there is no published evidence that they have done so. A naturopath who visited the Gerson Clinic in 1983 was able to track 21 patients over a 5-year period (or until death) through annual letters or phone calls. At the 5-year mark, only one was still alive (but not cancer-free); the rest had succumbed to their cancer. 99% cure rate eh? I guess if you’re dead you don’t have cancer anymore. Tada! But the real arguments against “doctors and drug companies _don’t want you to know_” comes earlier in his screed. > [@](#): > > In any case, if you believe purveyors of many, many forms of quackery, there is always a cure for cancer out there that big pharma and the government have been “suppressing” because–well, it’s never entirely clear exactly why they would keep such a cure a secret or, more incredibly, how they could possibly keep such a secret. Indeed, these cancer “cures” strike me as being either the world’s most well-kept conspiracies of all time (after all, I’m a cancer surgeon and researcher and I’ve never heard from my colleagues even a hint of such an amazing cure for cancer in general or any specific cancer) or the worst-kept (after all, filmmakers like Steve Kroschel, writer, producer, and director of The Beautiful Truth, seem to have very little difficulty finding out all about it). In actuality, whether the secret of these “natural cures” is well or poorly kept seems to vary with the needs of the advocate telling the story. > > Moreover, none of these claims makes much sense on a strictly logical basis. Think about it this way: So many people die of cancer every year that virtually every person in developed countries, doctors and cancer researchers–and, yes, even big pharma executives–included, have known, know, or will know someone with cancer. Many have seen or will see someone they love die of cancer, sometimes in horrific ways. Certainly over the more than four decades of my existence, I have had multiple family members who have died of cancer. In fact, right now my wife and I are dealing with the heartbreak of a close family member recently diagnosed with widely metastatic breast cancer, and I’ve been trying to work every contact I know to get her to the best oncologist in order to provide her with the best possible palliation. Do the makers of this movie think that I or any other cancer researcher (or even big pharma executive) would withhold knowledge of such a “cure” or keep it from others if I knew of it? Indeed, because cancer kills so many people, many of these very same doctors and researchers will end up battling the disease at some point in their lives, and many of them will end up dying of it themselves. \*\*\*I \*\*\*might even end up dying of cancer someday. \ ***You** \*might end up dying of cancer someday. Does it make any sort of sense logically that _every single one of these doctors, executives, and bureaucrats_ would dismiss or conspire to suppress (or even blindly ignore the evidence for its existence because of dogma and “business as usual” of) such an amazingly effective cure, if it really existed? No, it does not. _Someone_ would talk, probably a _lot of people_. I know I would. Again, given how cancer has recently touched our family, I assure you, if such a cure existed, I would make damned sure that family member got it, no matter what it was, and if it truly worked as advertised I would make sure everyone else knew about it too. You can be sure that quite a few of those supposedly nefarious cancer researchers, government bureaucrats, and big pharma executives would too. The suggestion that doctors, drug researchers, and government officials, all of them, to the last man or woman, would literally sacrifice their own lives and the lives of their loved ones to keep The Cure For CancerTM a secret (so the Conspiracy as a whole can keep making money off of medicine that doesn’t work) is nothing less than an accusation that they are total inhuman monsters. And yet when you turn your sights 180 degrees, who are you looking at? A group of people of people who will tell you that while the standard therapies don’t work and are just a vast Conspiracy to take all your money, they’ll sell you THEIR Cure For Cancer (for a great deal of money) and which has a 99% success rate! As long as they don’t follow up on their patients. Who are the evil ones here? ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/19 "2012-03-23T15:10:35Z")
Part of the high cost for many drugs ends up in the pocket of the prescribing doctor. I don’t have a cite, but trust what I remember reading in Forbes Magazine. They are not quite the Huffington Post. I once had a doctor prescribe $3 a pill Nexium for my minor throat tickle he said was caused by acid reflux. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575/20 "2012-03-23T15:11:27Z")
> [@jmiller15](#): > > I strongly believe the drug companies are working with the Government. Could this be population control? Very sad!!! What’s your opinion? Speaking as a federal employee involved in cancer research I can state without equivocation that we are all working our collective buts off to try to find a cure. If fresh vegetables actually worked we would gladly close up shop and work on something else. The claim that we are all just sitting here cackling evilly pretending to do research is highly offensive. Given that many of these researchers also have relatives who have died of cancer saying that they are actively holding up the cure is a monstrous accusation. Cancer is a very difficult disease to treat because cancer cells are just like other cells in the body so its hard to kill them without killing the patient. Some types of cancer we can handle well. Breast cancer caught early has a greater than 90% cure rate. Others are more difficult, but we are working tirelessly to try to treat them. If you don’t believe us just open up a medical journal or visit the NIH. you will see people working hard to make the world a better place. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-doctors-over-prescribe-drugs/616575.md?page=2)