It is an amazing privilege to be a physician. The trust placed in a physician – our collective integrity as a profession – isn’t something that any of us should lightly consider selling the highest bidder.
First it was vitamins, then the supplements. This morning, I was sent an ad for a doc endorsing some sort of spa treatment “doctorapproved”
For consumer protection, it may be fair to simply say “caveat emptor” and a savvy consumer should always be skeptical of product claims in an ad, regardless if the endorser is wearing a white coat prop.
But as healthcare professionals, we do need to start asking questions about what this means longer term for our healthcare professions that should be based on trust and commitment to evidence-based practice.
We certainly no longer accept the ethics of a pharmacist or physician taking money to promote a prescribed medication in an ad. Why is wellness somehow different? The wellness industry is now worth far more than Big Pharma, and far less robustly regulated.
A couple of years ago, I wrote about this growing trend among US physicians: https://doctorsonsocialmedia.com/doctor-please-just-dont-promote-vitamins/
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