From Congressional Quarterly:Critics say physicians who speak at medical society meetings are so compromised by industry sponsorships that, in the words of an Ohio retinal surgeon, “we have reached the point where it would be more convenient for speakers to simply wear NASCAR-style jackets emblazoned with their sponsor’s logos.”
Concerns about industry marketing practices were addressed at a hearing Wednesday in which witnesses said much needs to be done to clear away an enormous web of conflicts of interest spun among physicians by drug industry marketing dollars. Most agreed that the federal government should publicize how much money drug companies are paying to individual doctors, but that should only be the first step.
While I'm not saying that reform couldn't improve things, however, Doctors that do have a financial relationship with a manufacturer are required, and I've heard plenty of them do it, state that at the beginning of a lecture.
It's also ironic that Congress, who are on the take from just about everyone, and receive campaign contributions from big business in far excess than most Doctors make in a lifetime, are going to tell us how to clean things up.
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