Do ads make you feel better?

Weâ??re increasingly bombarded with ads for health care products ranging from drugs for osteoporosis and restless leg syndrome
to knee replacements.

Zimmer went over the heads of doctors
when it advertised its knee replacements designed specifically for women, and the ads appear to be working, because sales
are up.

Linda Heitzman, who directs Deloitte Consultingâ??s life science practice in Indianapolis, has mixed feelings about ads directed
at patients.

Advertising is arming consumers with more information when they speak with physicians, which is a good thing, Heitzman says.

Yet ads also can cause overuse of medications. Some people took the arthritis medication Vioxx longer than intended, and had
heart attacks and strokes as a result, she notes.

Health advertising is here to stay because consumers who are getting more control over their health care want as much information
as they can find, Heitzman says.

â??Weâ??re not going to turn back the clock on direct-to-consumer advertising,â?? she says.

What do you think?