Minn. Health System Purges Drug Trinkets

Published: Saturday, January 19, 2008
Minn. Health System Purges Drug Trinkets
By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press Writer

MINNEAPOLIS
When a Duluth-based operator of hospitals and clinics purged the pens, notepads, coffee mugs and other promotional trinkets drug companies had given its doctors over the years, it took 20 shopping carts to haul the loot away.

The operator, SMDC Health System, intends to ship the 18,718 items to the west African nation of Cameroon.

The purge underscored SMDC's decision to join the growing movement to ban gifts to doctors from drug companies.

SMDC scoured its four hospitals and 17 clinics across northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin for clipboards, clocks, mouse pads, stuffed animals and other items decorated with logos for such drugs as Nexium, Vytorin and Lipitor.

More:
http://www.theledger.com/article/20080119/APF/801190576


Imagine if, on the way to Cameroon, a crate full of the drug trinkets fell off the plane and landed in the middle of an isolated, hunter-gatherer tribe. The Gods Must Be Crazy III?

You should post this in the health forum. It will sink like a lead weight in GD.

getting rid of the drug influence on our doctors, wish other clinics and hospitals in the US would do likewise. :patriot: