We don’t often think of drugs and medical devices in the same way we think of consumer products like Coca-Cola or Nike, but they’re more alike than you may think. Drugs and medical devices are heavily marketed to consumers through print and media advertisements, and many of the big names are as recognizable to consumers as anything sold at a local grocery store. One difference, however, is that doctors haven’t received millions of dollars to promote Coca-Cola.
CNN recently broke a story revealing that drugmaker Bayer paid millions to doctors to promote Essure, a permanent birth control device that has come under heavy fire for severely harming women. According to the report, Bayer paid 11,850 doctors $2.5 million related to Essure between August 2013 through late 2017. These payments were described as “consulting fees” and similar services such as speaking appearances at medical conferences.
In its report, CNN analyzed federal prescription data to identify the amount and frequency these doctors were paid to promote Essure. One physician named in the report, Dr. Cindy Basinski, received over $168,000 for Essure-related promotion. Basinski acknowledged accepting the payments, insisting that it was a legitimate business agreement.
“I think that there can be professional relationships with companies and physicians. I did a lot of work to earn that money,” she said. “A majority of activities were involved with educating physicians.”
Basinski stands by her assessment of Essure, noting that she will continue to implant the device until it comes off the market later this year.
But while Basinski still maintains a positive opinion of Essure, at least one of her patients does not. CNN interviewed Christina Potts, a special needs teacher from Indiana who was implanted with the Essure device on Basinski’s recommendation. Potts had asked her about getting her fallopian tubes tied, and Basinski convinced her that Essure would be a better option for a mother of four young children, as it could be implanted as an outpatient procedure without surgery or prolonged recovery time.
“She was very upbeat about it,” Potts said. “I felt like she was very pushy.”
Like countless women before her, Potts took her doctor’s recommendation and had the Essure coils implanted. After a year of unbearable side-effects like joint pain, headaches, and extreme fatigue, Potts underwent a hysterectomy to finally relieve her of the symptoms caused by Essure.
Potts told CNN that she felt “violated” by Basinski’s insistence that Essure was the best choice for her.
“I felt like it was Dr. Basinski’s decision, more or less, because she said that this was best, and I wasn’t really given another option,” she said.
Potts also mentions that Basinski’s promotion of Essure extended beyond the exam room, noting that Basinski produced YouTube videos, a website, and a highway billboard devoted to Essure.
We’ve written about these types of payments before, and while they are legal, the ethics behind them are questionable at best. Many in the healthcare industry have taken a strong stance against accepting money from pharmaceutical companies, including Dr. Martin Makary, a professor of surgery and patient safety expert at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
“That looks like a bribe,” Makary said. “That looks like gaming the system. That looks like the pharma company is paying off doctors.”
In late July 2018, Bayer announced it would no longer sell Essure due to declining sales. Prior to this announcement, the FDA imposed significant restrictions on the device due to a massive public outcry and lawsuits from over 16,000 women alleging that Essure has caused them life-altering injuries.
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