BATON ROUGE - Lawyer advertising is misleading people and scaring consumers, according to the sponsor of a reform bill heard in the House Committee on Commerce today.
Senator Barrow Peacock (R-37) said Senate Bill 43 will establish requirements for disclosure in advertising.
“What we have here today is Senate Bill 43, which prohibits unfair and deceptive advertising directed to individuals using medical devices or certain medical drugs, such as a medical alert, health alert, a drug alert, or a false public service announcement that misleads an individual to believe that an advertisement has been approved or is affiliated with the federal or state government or promotes a false recall of a product by a government agency,” Peacock told committee members.
Reform advocates say the level of attorney advertising in the state is contributing to a negative legal environment that burdens businesses and dampens economic growth.
But problems are not limited to economic concerns.
A 2019 FDA study found 66 reports of adverse events following patients who discontinued blood thinner medication after viewing TV advertisements. Only 2% of those who stopped taking their medication actually spoke to their medical professional, 33 patients experienced a stroke, 24 patients experienced other serious injuries, and seven people died. The median patient age in the study was 70 years old.
To illustrate the problem, Peacock screened two video commercials. The first promoted statistics, such as "260 deaths linked to Pradaxa," a blood thinner, and warns that the FDA is "evaluating reports of serious bleeding related to Pradaxa." It also shows a toll free number at the bottom of the screen: 1-800-BAD-DRUG.
In comparison, the second ad disclosed who was paying for the advertisement and clearly stated "Contact your doctor before you stop taking your medication."
“The purpose of Senate Bill 43 is to protect consumers by limiting misleading advertising practices,” Peacock said. “Some of these ads are sponsored by non-attorney aggregators who solicit sensitive information and sell it and unlike attorneys, these aggregators are not bound by federal patient protection laws.”
Peacock's bill would require legal services ads clearly state: "Consult your physician before making decisions regarding prescribed medication or treatment" for a prescription drug or medical device approved by the FDA.
“We just want to make sure our consumers in Louisiana are safe and not going off their medicine,” Peacock said.
When State Representative Kenny Cox (D-23) asked whether the FDA statistics promoted in the commercials are true, Peacock replied, “They're misleading people and they're scaring consumers into believing that these are bad medicines or bad drugs and they're throwing in the FDA logo. They are able to mislead consumers who then stop taking their medicine.”
Peacock went on to explain that people are calling the phone numbers promoted in TV commercials and divulging their health information because they think they are calling the government based on the logo.
“These are not government advertisements and they are not paid for in any way by the FDA,” he said.
A provision in SB 43 further states that it shall not limit or otherwise undermine the authority of the Louisiana Supreme Court to regulate the practice of law enforcement or the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct,
“There was some concern that the attorney general would be having a say over the practice of law and that's not the intent of this bill,” Peacock added.
Earlier this month, the Louisiana Supreme Court adopted new rules on attorney advertising in an attempt to make them more transparent.
As previously reported in the Louisiana Record, the new advertising rules, which take effect on Jan. 1, 2022, require promotions to integrate disclaimers such as "Results may vary" or "Past results are not a guarantee of future success" when referencing past legal successes.