Ethical issues in professional advertising

Physician advertising has received considerable attention since the courts decided in favor of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its initial complaint against the American Medical Association in the 1970s. Continued investigations by the FTC into AMA opinions on advertising and publicity have promulgated a new freedom in advertising by physicians. False and deceptive advertising though is the grounds for court action as well as license revocation. This is an attempt to analyze where physician advertising is most prevalent, which physicians are doing it and why.