Letters to the Editor - Oct. 6, 2008

Ban direct-to-consumer drug ads

Regarding "Direct-to-patients ads, not free pens, are the real problem" (Letters, Aug. 25): As a primary care doctor, I'm bombarded daily with questions about medications my patients have seen advertised on television. These ads create the impression that healthy people have diseases they often don't have; moreover, they compel patients to think there is a better alternative to the effective, affordable medications they are taking.

As a young physician who never has had much affection for the pharmaceutical industry, I am relieved to see drug-company lunches, dinners, pens and other wasteful giveaways curtailed. I can afford to buy my own pens and coffee mugs. But the disconnect these drug ads produce between my patients and my own evidence-based practice is tremendous. Let's work on doing what we did with tobacco products and ban direct-to-consumer drug advertising.

--Jed Olson, MD, Denver

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Recognize Center for the Intrepid's Dr. Menetrez is a physiatrist

Regarding "Rebuilding body and spirit: Center for the Intrepid puts nation's wounded military on the mend" (Article, Aug. 18): I greatly enjoyed the article about the wonderful rehabilitation work being done at the Center for the Intrepid.

However, I was dismayed to see Col. Jennifer Menetrez, MD, referred to only as "the center's director," while both orthopedic surgeons mentioned were identified as such. Dr. Menetrez is a physiatrist, a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Please give her the recognition she is due.

--Kenneth Wright, MD, Charleston, W.Va.

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