The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is obviously a hot-button issue. And I’m not taking sides, nor am I proposing a solution.  But here’s where it affects me.

There’s a Parkinson’s Disease medication called Azilect. It has some unique properties, and there’s no generic, or direct competitors, currently available. It’s manufactured by Teva, a company that does most of their business in generic drugs. It’s the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer, and if you’ve taken any type of pill at some point in your life, the odds are you’ve used a Teva product.

Teva is an Israeli company. I personally don’t care. From my view, they make a useful drug, and if I think you could benefit from it, I’ll write for it.

Most people are fine with this. But I always get a handful of calls a year from people refusing to take it, or calling to yell at me, for prescribing an Israeli product. Some refuse to take it because they don’t want to support Israel. Others have accused me of secretly prescribing it over other drugs as part of some vast Israeli conspiracy. I’ve even had one patient fire me because I wrote for it.

Here’s the bottom line people: I don’t care where your medication was made, who makes it, or the name of the chemist in the assembly line.

I am your doctor, and when you’re here, my goal is to try and make you better. I’m not getting kickbacks for these scripts, nor are they my way of making a political statement.

Improving you is what I’m trying to do. So try to see it that way, and accept my help.

“Doctor Grumpy” is a neurologist who blogs at Doctor Grumpy in the House.

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