Finally: A good reason not to ban drug companies from wining and dining doctors
By adamg - Mon, 06/02/2008 - 3:36pm.
Or not.
Blue Mass. Group posts a copy of a letter from a caterer to his state rep complaining that if drug companies are barred from buying fancy meals for doctors, minimum-wage earners will be thrown out of work and entire restaurants will be forced to shut down.
Really. Go read it.
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Speaking as a Chef...
I'm considering a letter of my own, I'm not a caterer, I do banquets for a fancy hotel downtown. There are hundreds, probably thousands of people in Boston who like me make their humble wages from such lunches and dinners. Sure we do lavish weddings on the weekends but the bulk of our business comes from investment/banking and the healthcare/drug industries. If we have 6 bookings a day at least 4 will be from those industries. With the banking world in a downward spiral pharma functions are one of the few bright spots for all those servers, cooks and dishwashers looking to get close to 40 hours. We're not greedy or rich, we're not in league with the drug companies, we're service industry grunts who will bear the brunt of this law. Good luck collecting your prescription discount, that'll be the day. You'll only encourage them to book conferences and events in other states.
The last one of these events I had the chance to be in the room for was about advances in breast cancer detection. The company was bringing together Dr.s who had experience with a next gen mammogram imaging system to compare notes, oh the horror.
If you really want to crack down on influence peddling go after the lobbyists on capital hill, not the poor bastard bussing tables.
I support the service industry, but...
Your argument doesn't fly. As you expressed it here, your argument is that if X practice creates demand for catering services, then we should all encourage X practice to continue.
Does this mean that you blindly support any organization or practice that uses caterers for its meetings or events? Hey, the KKK booked a block of hotel rooms in town! Oh well, at least they support the service industry!
(No, obviously I'm not directly equating the KKK and pharmaceutical companies, but hopefully you see why your argument doesn't work).
I think Goodwin's Law should
I think Goodwin's Law should be expanded to cover KKK arguments. Yes, you've called me out, its clear I'm willing to support KKK rallies, give me a break with the leaky reasoning.
I'm not talking about "X practice", the medical industry is a major segment of the economy here. Drug industry trade shows and their related events help the local hospitality industry afloat. Whats going to replace that in this economic downturn? Theres a reason the city works so hard to bring tourism and conventions here, its because it equals jobs. If these companies dont get to wine and dine the Doctors here they'll just do it in some other city and we'll lose out.
Oh yeah?
Well, I bet you'd cater a Nazi convention too, with little weiner schnitzels and hassenpfeffer and the wurst of the wurst and lots and lots of kraut.
And then you'd build a big statue of a straw man and set it on fire!
Junkets
The laws you are referring to aren't designed to prohibit pharma companies from hosting conventions but, rather, to prevent pharma companies from bascially paying doctors to attend those conventions through travel junkets. The idea behind this is that the junkets undully influence doctors in what medication to prescribe which, in turn, drives up the cost of healthcare as doctors prescribe expensive branded drugs rather than off-pantent generics or by prescribing more than they should. Fewer lunches may mean slightly fewer catered events for you, but look at it this way - it may lower the cost of your Mass. mandatory health insurance!
The impact on local service
The impact on local service industry workers would be immediate, the savings on the other hand sound like trickle down economics. If you go from 40 hours a week to "on call" you're hardly going to be jazzed about some vague potential to get generic drug prescriptions.