From the Popular Press: What Your Patients are Reading:

Medical groups and lawmakers are questioning why makers of medical devices such as artificial knees and heart stents are increasingly pitching their products directly to consumers. An estimated $193 million was spent on medical device advertising last year—far less than what the pharmaceutical industry spent promoting prescription drugs, but medical devices have the ability to have a far greater impact on a patient’s body than medications. Devices such as artificial joints require surgery to implant, and then remain inside the patient for years, if not the rest of their life. Critics believe that by advertising directly to consumers, manufacturers of such devices are trying to encourage patients to have medical devices implanted that they may not need. Although patients cannot receive such devices without the consent and participation of their doctor, the influence of advertising may sway them toward a decision they wouldn’t otherwise make. The Senate Special Committee on Aging is holding a hearing to consider tightening regulations on medical device advertising, possibly by extending the rules to medical devices that currently apply to prescription drug advertising that require a balance between the representation of a medication’s risks and benefits. Some of the medical devices that may come under scrutiny for their advertisements are Stryker’s ceramic hip replacement that has produced such loud squeaking in some patients that they have requested to have the implant removed, and Zimmer Holdings’ knee replacement that is being targeted towards women.

Read the full text of the article