Trust doctors over drug ads

I agree completely with the doctors’ side in the argument over direct-to-consumer drug ads. (“Drug ads a test of doctors’ patience,” Consumer Confidential, May 14.)

If I trust my doctor and am open with him about any symptoms or complaints, he should know what medicines, if any, I should be taking, based on my information and his examination.

The idea that I know, based on some TV ad, about some new condition that I didn’t know before that I had, and can inform the doctor what to do about it, assumes that the ad is a more useful or reliable source of information than the doctor.

Jim Mentzer

Los Angeles