"There are plenty of women taking Fosamax and other bisphosphonates," she wrote, "who are not little old ladies."
"And so what if some of them are little and they are old?" she added. "Does that mean they can't reason," she wrote, "that they can't ask questions about the medications they put in their bodies?"
"I am sickened by the attitudes of male doctors toward these "little old ladies" and indeed "ladies" in general," Elizabeth continued.
"If you wonder why the people are getting fed up with doctors this is a perfect example," she told the doctor, "Your flippant attitude about something as serious as jaw necrosis is horrifying."
In any event, experts are not so sure that the number of women with ONJ is minute. "We've uncovered about 1,000 patients in the past six to nine months alone, so the magnitude of the problem is just starting to be recognized," Kenneth Hargreaves, chair of the endodontics department at the University of Texas Health Science Center, told the LA Times on April 3, 2006.
According to Dr Salvatore Ruggiero, "Even though the chances of getting this are small, considering there are 23 million women taking this drug, we could be talking about a significant number of people," he said in the Times article.
"Risks increase the longer you're on the drugs," he advises, "and it can take years for the complication to manifest itself."
And, since it is known that at least 90% of drug side effects are never reported to the FDA, experts warn that the actual number of people stricken with ONJ is definitely much higher.
In April 2006, the American Association of Endodontists released a position statement saying: "Until further information is available, it would appear prudent to consider all patients taking bisphosphonates to be at some risk."
So how does Merck get doctors to keep right on prescribing Fosamax? Well for starters, on July 28, 2006, the New York Times, reported that on a recent Tuesday, "Steaming containers of Chinese food were destined for the 20 or so doctors and employees of Nassau Queens Pulmonary Associates."
And the newspaper said Merck picked up the $258 tab.
Dr John Scott, assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has been examining the interaction between medical practices and pharmaceutical sales representatives.
"We found that some offices get breakfast and lunch every day," Dr Scott told the Times.
He calls lunch the "currency" that buys access to doctors' offices for sales representatives and notes that some doctors, hard pressed to meet payrolls, say the lunches provide an added benefit to their employees.
According to Dr Scott, most doctors claim they were not influenced by food deliveries and other small gifts, but he told the Times, "They do influence prescribing."
As it turns out, when broken down per employee, the $258 lunch only cost Merck $10.75 per person, which is reportedly within industry guidelines that allow for the purchase of modest meals.
"And so what if some of them are little and they are old?" she added. "Does that mean they can't reason," she wrote, "that they can't ask questions about the medications they put in their bodies?"
"I am sickened by the attitudes of male doctors toward these "little old ladies" and indeed "ladies" in general," Elizabeth continued.
"If you wonder why the people are getting fed up with doctors this is a perfect example," she told the doctor, "Your flippant attitude about something as serious as jaw necrosis is horrifying."
According to Dr Salvatore Ruggiero, "Even though the chances of getting this are small, considering there are 23 million women taking this drug, we could be talking about a significant number of people," he said in the Times article.
"Risks increase the longer you're on the drugs," he advises, "and it can take years for the complication to manifest itself."
And, since it is known that at least 90% of drug side effects are never reported to the FDA, experts warn that the actual number of people stricken with ONJ is definitely much higher.
In April 2006, the American Association of Endodontists released a position statement saying: "Until further information is available, it would appear prudent to consider all patients taking bisphosphonates to be at some risk."
So how does Merck get doctors to keep right on prescribing Fosamax? Well for starters, on July 28, 2006, the New York Times, reported that on a recent Tuesday, "Steaming containers of Chinese food were destined for the 20 or so doctors and employees of Nassau Queens Pulmonary Associates."
And the newspaper said Merck picked up the $258 tab.
Dr John Scott, assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has been examining the interaction between medical practices and pharmaceutical sales representatives.
"We found that some offices get breakfast and lunch every day," Dr Scott told the Times.
He calls lunch the "currency" that buys access to doctors' offices for sales representatives and notes that some doctors, hard pressed to meet payrolls, say the lunches provide an added benefit to their employees.
According to Dr Scott, most doctors claim they were not influenced by food deliveries and other small gifts, but he told the Times, "They do influence prescribing."
As it turns out, when broken down per employee, the $258 lunch only cost Merck $10.75 per person, which is reportedly within industry guidelines that allow for the purchase of modest meals.
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