¶ … Wall Street Journal

Rundle, Rhonda L. "Industry Giants Push Obesity Surgery." 31 Mar 2008.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120692909065176045.html?mod=hpp_us_inside_today

One of the most interesting aspects of reading the Wall Street Journal from a personal perspective is the paper's tendency to address every issue from a purely economic perspective, regardless of the moral implications that might be brought to light by another media source. Even though some doctors and scientists are dubious about its safety and effectiveness, gastric band surgery, the paper notes with interest, has proven to be a windfall for Johnson & Johnson and Allergan Inc. Venture-capital-backed outpatient centers are popping up all over the nation to implant gastric bands in the stomachs of willing consumers. The bands are being touted as the solution to obesity, diabetes, and other illness caused by obesity and a poor diet by the industry.

This calls into question the marketing of healthcare as a business, not just for the surgery, but also of pharmaceuticals. It is in the interest of manufactures to promote their product and to increase consumption of their product. But if consumers are persuaded to use these products by doctors in the pay of corporations that stand to make massive financial gains, the consumers may actually be putting their health at risk. Who can patients trust? Doctors may not give healthcare consumers objective advice, and given that gastric banding carries a high risk of infection and even death, the entire healthcare system may eventually have to pay for the costs of this risky surgery, and the publicity campaign in favor of this surgery, as the result of these "growing ranks of surgeons…touting the procedure at free public seminars" (Rundle, 2008:A1).

Of course, it could be argued that commercials encourage people to do all sorts of unhealthy things, in the name of corporate profits. But people expect doctors to be independent experts, and people have to trust their doctor's expert opinion to some degree. After reading about the business side of medicine, consumers should be more vigilant about investigating the side effects of following a physician's advice, and try to figure out what might influence a doctor's advice from the world of commerce.