[mythtv-users] plugin idea: MythNielsen

Steven Adeff adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com
Tue May 9 10:12:43 EDT 2006


On 5/9/06, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> On May 9, 2006, at 4:15 AM, Andrew Hutchinson wrote:
> On 09/05/06, Andrew Hutchinson
> <ahutchinson.mythtv at googlemail.com> wrote:
> > On 09/05/06, Chad < masterclc at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > And the absolute worst is the advertising for prescription drugs. I
> > > > understand that only the USA permits this. I wonder why? It must
> > > > work, or they wouldn't keep doing it, and the thought of people
> > > > ingesting potentially hazardous drugson the basis of a TV ad really
> > > > scares me.
> > >
> > > ;)  Did I mention I work in a Pharmacy?
> > >
> > > Yeah, the drug commercials are by far the ones I pay no attention to.
> > > They practically lie straight out, and are extremely boring.  And
> > > what's even more odd to me is that I've never gone to a Doctor and
> > > said "I've got a problem with my hips" and the MD reply with "Do you
> > > have a suggestion for a Drug I can prescribe you?".  Or even better,
> > > "I've got a problem with my Hips, can you prescribe me some <fill in
> > > the blank arthritis drug>?"  And have the MD actually reply with a
> > > "Sure".  IME (experience) Drug companies best form of advertising is

But this does happen, and quite a bit, and many people are insistant
on it. My mom is an office manager for a G.P. and while her clientele
is supposed to be more highly educated than your average American,
working professionals and such, they still get some patients that
insist on a specific drug to cure their "symptoms". I can only imagine
what Doctors in poorly educated areas have to deal with.

This is where the real problem lies. There is this ingrained thought
in Americans that no matter how poorly educated they are, they think
they're genius. In my line of work (electrical engineering) I've had
to deal with many electricians and the like (blue collar workers) that
think they know the science behind what they do when they don't. Which
is fine (most were smart enough to get damn close from the evidence
they see in their day to day jobs, which I find mightily impressive),
the problem is the typical macho american attitude in some, where they
refuse to believe they are wrong even when I try and explain the true
science to them (the rest are actually intelligent and eager to learn
the validated science, some have even told me stories of events they
couldn't quite figure out until I explained something to them, which
is nice, it reinforces my belief in what I've learned and often helps
me remember parts of the science).
It's this subset that advertisers cater to, they are more willing to
hear something and form their opinion of the matter and are not
willing to seek professional help or advice on the subject. They just
walk in to the Doctors office sure as hell that what they think is
right is correct and are not willing to let the doctor do their job.

Of course, then there are doctors that get kick-backs from a drug
company to perscribe their drug and abuse the kick-back, which
diminishes the field of professional medicine and doesn't help the
reputation of real doctors...

But this is what happens when you live in a society that cares more
about what Britney Spears is doing than what the latest discoveries in
science are, and reinforce this behaviour in their kids.


> > > their luncheon's and product lecture series.  THEN they target their
> > > ideal audience, the prescriber.  Otherwise, they are simply saying

A good doctor won't use these luncheons, etc for more than product
awareness and will always read up on the clinical trials, etc, of a
drug before prescribing.


> > > "Hey moron, go tell your Doctor what he should be prescribing you";
> > > and I don't understand the logic there...

because so many of them do...


> > It might not seem logical to you, but this form of advertising is very
> lucrative (and completely irresponsible) on the part of the drug company.

Only irresponsible if they outright lie, which I don't think any of
them do, either because of truth in advertising laws or because they
don't feel its right to lie in their commercials.


> The fact is people do go to the doctor and say "I need XXX drug for this"
> and a lot of doctors will prescribe it.  This is especially the case when
> the drug companies make it known on the advert what symptoms their drugs are
> used for.

which is fine, its not the drug companies job to cater to the least
intelligent people that may see their advertising.  An intelligent
person would see/hear the ad, and if they feel they happen to be
experiencing some or all of the symptoms mentioned would talk to their
Doctor about it to see what a medical professional says, and perhaps
obtaining treatment for a serious ailment they might actually have.
The right to be protected from being an egotistical moron by society
is not a natural right (or for those of you that believe in god, a
"god given right").


> > One really bad case was "Adult ADD" which I saw while in America.  It went
> along the lines of "Are you tired in the morning?", or "Do you have trouble
> concentrating for long periods of time?".. I really couldn't believe what I
> was hearing!  This would never be allowed anywhere else.

Hey, your form of social government works differently, I can easily
say I've heard things that go on in other ("first world") countries
that I find assenine. Different people believe in different forms of
social governance, it doesn't mean one is right and the other is
wrong, it just means one fits your belief system better.


> Anyway, it works,
> and in my opinion its a problem.

just don't impose your opinion on me.


> > And trust me, they pay big money to market to the doctors too at the
> "luncheons" like you suggest.. its all a scam really.

Good doctors don't involve themselves in these kick-back programs, its
the bad ones that do, and ruin the whole profession.


> It must work or they wouldn't continue to spend millions of $$$ on such
> advertising, and there must be a reason no other civilized country will
> allow such advertising.

Because they're more socialist than the u.S. See my above rant...


> But here, where the corporations write the legislation, they can get just
> about anything they want.

And the voters let them, so don't go on some anti-corporate rant. The
government here fails only when its citizens let it. Sadly, for the
last 100years the citizens of the u.S. have become complacent in their
control of the government, allowing the government to dictate the
rights of the citizens instead of citizens dictating the rights of the
government. Those in power and wealth, being slightly more educated
than 50% of the voters use this to their advantage.


> Doctors will write the prescriptions because it is a quick and simple way of
>  getting the "throughput" they want/need, and explaining things to the
> patient in an attempt to undo what the adverts have wrought is not.

again, *bad doctors*. There are many out there that don't do this and
won't write random perscriptions on the whim of a patient. The problem
is there are those that will, and when a patient thinks they know all
they will find the doctor that will do what they ask. It's as much the
fault of the patients as it is the doctors willing to do what they
ask.


> Such is life in the "Land of the Fee".

hehe, did you mean to write it this way? =D

--
Steve


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