But increasingly, that is exactly what he is doing — battling patients who succumb to direct marketing.

As the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies vie for a bigger share of the drug market, and Congress moves toward subsidizing medicine for the nation's 40 million elderly, who buy 40 percent of prescription drugs sold, televised ads for prescription drugs have had a direct impact on the health and insurance industries.

With drug prices rising a whopping 17 percent, on average, annually, critics complain that ads prompt the use of more expensive brand-name drugs over generic alternatives.

"Advertising is the bane of doctors, who have to try to correct a lot of misinformation," said Weiss, an arthritis specialist. "I'm sure doctors do sometimes prescribe drugs just to get rid of someone so they can move on to a waiting room full of patients."

Since the late 1990s, when the Food and Drug Administration relaxed broadcast restrictions, the pharmaceutical industry has tripled its direct advertising to consumers — from $800 million to $2.7 billion.

Drug companies, knowing that cheaper generics could wipe out their market domination, turn to ads to try to recoup the average $800 million it costs to research and develop a drug before its patent expires.

Nearly nine out of 10 Americans say they have heard or seen a prescription drug ad; about a third say they have talked to their doctor about medication they learned about through advertising; and 44 percent got a prescription for the drug, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study.

Jennifer Jacobs of Royal Oak, Mich., is certain she felt the impact of drug ads recently when she was told her husband's newly prescribed migraine medication cost $120 for eight pills.

"Those prices are crazy," Jacobs said. "I think prescription drugs wouldn't cost so much without all the TV ads."

Tim Antonelli, a pharmacist at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, sees sudden demand for specific drugs, such as Nexium, a heartburn medication that came on the market in February 2001.

From June 2001 to May 2002, beneficiaries filed Nexium claims totaling $20 million. In the next year, claims doubled to $40 million.

Nexium was the most heavily advertised drug in 2002 — with $183 million spent to hawk it, according to CMR-TNS Media Intelligence and Publishers Information Bureau.

Tony Marsh, a pharmaceutical company advertising consultant, says the ads help inform consumers about new drug treatments. Even critics agree that advertisements can provide a public service by alerting viewers that their symptoms might be treatable.

"We aren't trying to convince healthy people they are sick. We are trying to convince sick people that they can be helped," Marsh said.

The Kaiser Family Foundation found that ads accounted for 12 percent of the total sales increase of five popular classes of drugs. Kaiser found that each dollar spent on ads generates an additional $4.20 in sales.

Sidney Wolfe, director of the advocacy group Public Citizen Health Research Group, says the federal government isn't supervising ads adequately.

Wolfe notes that the FDA — charged with ensuring that an ad is accurate and presents a balanced view of a product's benefits and risks — only sent warning letters or notices of violation related to 27 drug ads on television and in print in 2002 — down from 157 in 1998.