In the 1910s, the American Medical Association fought quackery promoted in pamphlets for drugs and treatments for everything from teething to epilepsy.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(11):E1082-1093. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1082.
Richard Zeckhauser, PhD and Benjamin Sommers, MD, PhD
While patient consumerism may cause inefficiencies that need to be managed appropriately, insofar as it leads to active patient participation it has the potential to improve medical decision making.