Boulevard, April 2008
Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum

My mother-in-law sent around a mass email extolling all of the benefits of hydrogen peroxide hidden from all Americans, and interested people, by the medical community. It ranged from teeth whitening to cleaning windows, and was clear on the surreptitious and sneaky behavior of which doctors had to maintain in order to keep all these secrets under wraps. I was appalled. It was so shocking to me and a bit unclear why it was all doctors’ faults that these touted benefits were not common knowledge.  I assure you, no where, not in any text book, did I ever read about how to keep my windows clean with hydrogen peroxide.  I almost double checked, just to prove it to myself.  It was such a distrustful look at the medical community, revealing all the supposed hidden secrets, with the bottom-line motive simply being money.

I knew there was some mistrust on the part of patients when it came to pharmaceutical companies, and I have heard some people’s concerns about certain doctor’s motives.  By in large, though, I believed that the greatest threat of conspiracy was on the part of the big drug companies whose motivation, as it sometimes appears to patients, being solely financial.

Many years ago, I met a 34 year old guy in the Emergency Room.  Thin, handsome and fit, he was having a heart attack.  He was rushed to the catheterization laboratory, where a new drug eluting stent was placed in one of the major arteries of his heart, saving his heart muscle and saving his life. He was started on a slew of medications from aspirin to a statin, to not only reduce his cholesterol, but stabilize his plaque. He was given an anti-platelet medication, to keep his stent open and platelets from not clumping, he was given a beta-blocker and an ACE-inhibitor.  And, he had been fine. In fact, back in the gym, exercising, eating healthy, recently married and snorkeling on his honeymoon.

About one year ago, something happened.  He walked into my office with a glint in his eye. He had read a book where he was told of the conspiracy between doctors and pharmaceutical companies and he wanted to be taken off all of his medication, except the aspirin, because finally he read the truth.  I showed him studies, we reviewed the data together. He stayed on his medication.
I thought this was a young man who was angry with his disease, furious with his medicine cabinet and ready to feel “normal.”  It never occurred to me that this is really what he thought. I never did realize that my profession was knee-deep in the conspiracy and we were benefiting from it, until I received the email about hydrogen peroxide.  And, yes, I was appalled.  And, until recently, I have been totally confused.

I called my friend, Cynthia, a pharmaceutical representative from a major pharmaceutical company, whose monies do go for advertising and for educating doctors, but also go to funding research and giving grants for non-for-profit organizations all to promote health and education.  I told her about this web site, the memory of my patient and my recent shock. She, in turn, was completely perplexed by my ignorance.

Many of us went to medical school to help patients.  After the many years of schooling, debts, and sleepless nights, I assure you that without that motivation, it would be an almost impossible task.  There are those who are less noble, as in any career, but this seemed unreal.

Then, for me, a small bomb dropped.   A cholesterol lowering medication, which I had prescribed, based on its properties of lowering LDL cholesterol, withheld its results from the scientific community for about 6 months, before then attempting to change the outcome of their studies.  This shattered the glass on my pristine and noble practice.  At least through my rosy glasses, I believed that science was science and that regardless of the outcomes, as scientists, doctors and pharmaceutical companies shared their knowledge for the greater good.

Cynthia then told me that some pharmaceutical companies bought generic brands of their drugs, and were, in fact, increasing the prices of the non-brand name of their drugs, so people would spend a little extra on the brand names.  So, essentially the cheaper generics we were giving to our patients to save money, weren’t much cheaper after all due to the inflated price by some of the pharmaceutical companies. I take this all very personally, I assure you. How could they lie to me like this?

I didn’t know any of this. I never realized.
But, then, all over the news is a criticism and revoke of an ad for Lipitor, with Dr. Jarvik, the inventor of the mechanical heart as their spokesperson.  There was an image of a man rowing down the water, and it was proclaimed that, in fact, that man was not him.  As if this made any difference.  It questioned his credentials, although all that was proclaimed was who he is and nothing else.  The marketing company made a decision to use his voice and this image to promote their medication. And, somehow this is the greatest controversy, and the one with the most ratings.

I don’t know why I take this all to heart. I, myself, have put my faith in the companies that help sustain what I do. I believe in the benevolence of people to work towards the common goal of taking care of our patients. I believe that P.R. companies help spread the message, and that pharmaceutical companies, although have their more expensive brands, work towards getting our drugs available and affordable to everyone. And, I believed that science was science, that this information was shared in a forum that reached all across the world to be discussed and analyzed in order for us to better take care of our patients.

Oh, yes, and the money. Well, I have saved a little recently. All I do now is dump a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in a little water. Did you know it not only cleans windows, shines glass, but is an excellent disinfectant, too?