Michael Forkner, 51, walked into the exam room at the Alabama Men’s Clinic in Birmingham and sat down in front of an employee named Tony. It was 2016, and Forkner had heard the clinic’s advertisements on his favorite sports radio station, ads that promised an easy, discreet solution to his problem. Sometimes he had trouble maintaining an erection during intercourse.
He assumed there would be options, pills or something, but he said that’s not what Tony offered.
“At first,” said Forkner, “I said ‘No way am I going to do this. I’m not sticking a needle into my deal.’”
Medical experts say a similar scenario plays out in cash-only clinics every day from Cincinnati to Seattle, from Oklahoma City to Minneapolis: Lots of advertising, emphasis on injectable medication to combat erectile dysfunction, and subscription plans costing thousands of dollars a year.