Warning about Sermo

[Guest guest]

Hi folks. I had recently joined Sermo (www.sermo.com), a

physician's networking site, when they advertised that they were

looking for input in drafting a letter to the American public

regarding the physicians' views about the problems in American

medicine today. (Incidentally, I don't think that will ever

happen.) Joining is free, but limited to licensed physicians.

There is lots of chatter about all sorts of topics, including

interesting and challenging cases, practice management, politics of

medicine, etc., so it's pretty interesting (only when I run out of

new posts to read on THIS site, of course!) At the time I joined, I

looked for evidence of pharmaceutical company support, and didn't

find any, as there are no visible ads on the site. I have since

learned that the founders/managers/whatever for the site accept

money from Pfizer, the AMA, and the FDA, among others, to allow them

to monitor the postings, so that they will better " understand "

what's on physicians' minds. At least some of the money goes

for " prizes " of up to $500-$1000 for various contests on the site,

which is intended to increase the interest and activity, which I'm

sure they do. I am quite disgusted, as I am certain that

pharmaceutical companies do not invest money in physicians unless

they know it will increase their bottom line, and I resent them

biopsying our minds without our full understanding and consent. I

have explained to the Sermo group that I won't be returning and why,

and I thought I would warn anyone else who might have joined or be

thinking about joining, in case they have similar objections. ---

Sharlene