In the past, medical practices largely relied on traditional channels such as doctor-to-doctor referrals and patient word-of-mouth to brand their practices and attract new patients. Physicians didn’t spend time or money on media marketing. Traditionally, many people have viewed physicians as answering to a “higher calling.” Physicians were somewhat scared of being labeled as being “commercial.” The result of this thinking has been that until the turn of the last century, medical marketing and promotion were somewhat frowned upon and highly controversial.

The last fifteen years or so has witnessed a profound change in public attitude towards medical advertising. This in turn has spawned a change in the attitude of a majority of physicians – especially those who practice medicine in the private arena. One need look no further than television or print media to find a myriad of advertisements in which private practitioners and medical institutions promote their services and tout their expertise and service.

The truth is that though medicine is for many a “calling,” it is by necessity a business as well – but one in which care and caring hopefully take precedent over the almighty dollar. The Hippocratic oath says “do no harm,” and that can be expanded to mean that medical services must at all times be provided honorably, and always with a focus on what is in the best interest of the patient.

Medical advertising can also serve the best interests of consumers of medical care. This is because promoting a doctor or practice often serves as a declaration of what can be provided by the physician or practice concerned, and as such represents a form of stated commitment.

Nowhere is the concept of medical marketing more prevalent or more controversial than in the field of reproductive medicine. Our field is still seen by some as the “Wild West” of medicine and is for the most part unregulated by a governing body. Moreover, creating a baby is never merely a product of good medicine, it also requires a degree of divine intervention.

I have always been a proponent of consumer advocacy and a firm believer in honest marketing and advertising in the field of reproductive medicine. In 1986 I authored a consumer-driven book on IVF (now titled “In Vitro Fertilization: The A.R.T. of Making Babies”). In the early ’90’s, before the real era of the internet, we were the first to launch free public seminars as a forum where infertile consumers could interact one on one with Fertility Specialists in a town hall-like setting, and learn about the various fast emerging reproductive technologies.

When the internet started to evolve, we were also among the first to develop a consumer-focused website where people could access detailed medical and cost-related information about our services and where they could post questions or issues on a dedicated “discussion board” and receive a prompt written response by SIRM physicians within but a few hours.

Most recently we decided to expand our consumer advocacy philosophy by producing a theme song and accompanying video entitled “I Believe.” This song reflects our solidarity with, and our empathy for, infertile couples on their journey from “infertility to family.”

The music video, (which can be viewed HERE) has been very well received, evoking a tremendously favourable response on YouTube as well as on other video hosting sites. While most feedback has been positive, there have also been a handful of responses from people who have criticized the song and the music video as being blatantly promotional and/or felt that it painted too idyllic of a picture of fertility treatment. A few felt that it didn’t adequately represent the down side of teatment, i.e.that there was not always a happy ending and it failed to represent the emotional and financial cost of advanced infertility treatments such as IVF.

While I fully respect such opinions, I submit that the song and video were intended, above all to be inspirational and representative of the joy of success after the struggle. The couples featured in the video were all SIRM patients who volunteered without any compensation to share their stories. At the same time, it would be somewhat disingenuous to claim that we didn’t hope to promote and strengthen our practice through the song and video. And while it did not address the downside of the IVF process (failure, cost and emotion tribulations), it was intended to engender real hope for a successful outcome, and a belief that to engage, endure and safely complete the “journey from infertility to family” requires a firm “belief” in a successful outcome. Frankly, the same applies to most of life’s hardships.

I truly believe that honest and tasteful advertising in medicine has a very valuable role to play. It provides consumers of medical services with valuable information and establishes healthy competition between medical practitioners. This in turn can only benefit the overall quality of care and caring, while at the same time help keep the cost of healthcare as low as possible.