Thousands of physicians are limiting their patients’ choice of drugs by boycotting products manufactured by Merck pharmaceuticals, according to two articles published in the June 12 edition of AMNews, a publication of the American Medical Association.

The Federation of Physicians and Dentists, a labor union, is spearheading the boycott because its members object to the fact that Merck Medco, a pharmacy benefit manager associated with the pharmaceutical company, once belonged to the Antitrust Coalition for Consumer Choice in Health Care, which opposes enactment of H.R. 1304.

The AMNews article cites a May 4 memorandum written by the federation’s executive director Jack Seddon. The memorandum urged doctors, when prescribing medicine for their patients, to "remember this above all else: reward your friends and punish your enemies."

The article cites Seddon’s estimate that "a couple thousand" physicians responded to his alert. "Some physicians," AMNews reports, "chose to block Merck representatives from their offices; others went further, choosing to prescribe a competitor’s product if they deemed it to be of equivalent efficacy to any Merck option."

The article does not state whether doctors are telling patients that their medications are being changed for political reasons, and not for any medical indication. Michael Connair, an orthopedic surgeon from New Haven, Connecticut, who serves as the Federation’s vice president, acknowledged the political nature of the boycott to the AMNews. "I take [Merck’s position] into consideration in deciding which [drug] to use," he is quoted as saying. "It certainly has turned into a powerful weapon, if you will, in altering Merck’s policy."

H.R. 1304 would legally immunize and encourage boycotts of this nature, in which patients are made unwitting participants in political power plays by their doctors.