Remember when doctors made the decisions on what medication you would get?
Maybe I'm just being overly nostalgic, but there was something comforting in going to your doctor and trusting his or her opinions on what was ailing you and how (or if) it could be fixed. Now the drug companies tell you, via advertising, what you by-God should be taking, and why haven't you gotten off your duff and bought it yet? And half the ads make the side effects (which I suppose they are required to state) sound like a good thing - you can tell the announcer has a smile on his or her face while reading them.
Say Joe Blow has a sniffle in the spring, and he sees a Claratin ad on the TV. "Goodness, I must have allergies, and ClaratinTM is the solution - and it doesn't have any side effects worth worrying about!" So Joe calls his doctor, tells him he needs ClaratinTM, and sure enough, the doctor prescribes it for him over the phone - no visit necessary. The fact that he might have some totally different problem doesn't seem relevant.
Imagine if we applied the same logic to car problems. "Hmmm, my brakes seem a little soft. But I saw an ad for BrakeSoftTM the other day - I'll just have Joe throw that in." No problem - until your brakes fail because the actual reason they were weakening was a leak in the brake lines. Or because Joe installed BrakeSoftTM incorrectly, as he was suffering from walking pneumonia at the time.
I also see way too much advertising paraphernalia in the doctor's office itself. So, when I tell my doctor that I might have allergies, it's not too much of a surprise that he prescribes ClaratinTM, given that he is writing with a ClaratinTM pen on a ClaratinTM clipboard and that I am wearing a ClaratinTM johnny. I won't even mention the rubber gloves.
My proposed fix? The FCC should stop kowtowing to big business and reinstate restrictions on the advertising of medication (and the supposed health benefits of foods, for that matter - but that is another topic). Perhaps the ads might be forbidden from mentioning the name of the product, and instead just raise awareness of possible health problems. Let the doctor do the prescribing. You can be sure that they'll have some free samples to give you.
You can respond to my ranting here.
A rant in time saves nine.