Marketing this 'hope' sells our profession short

The marketing of health care in general is fraught with problems. The marketing of cosmetic surgery, hair-loss treatments and other medical "cures" that are, for the most part, elective is especially problematic. Most of the material in a recent supplement of The Washington Post may not have crossed the ethics boundary, but it was certainly flirting with the edge. Doctors have not only the right, but often the obligation, to promote their services and new technologies. But blending the health care skills - the healing arts - with the blandishments of P.T. Barnum or even of Revson is a troublesome mixture. As physicians turn themselves into marketers, they must be especially conscious of ethical pitfalls.