To the Editor:

As physicians, we’re faced with a steadily growing problem – prescription medication television advertisements. Besides the inconveniences that come with patients asking physicians for particular drugs, perhaps the most serious consequence of this practice is the added cost of medications due to the price of television time. Most patients today complain about the high price of prescriptions, which leads many to make periodic trips to Mexico to buy their medicine – medicine made by the same companies but at a considerably lower price.

Having worked for a large pharmaceutical company in the past, I offer a simple solution to this growing practice: We should simply refuse to see the company’s representatives until they stop this growing tendency. We owe this to our patients who are unaware of the negative effects of this menace.

As Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”