October 2001 • Volume 7 • Number 10
Gifts from industry
To the editor:
To the reader: Write us letters of 200 words or fewer (subject to editing), using the FP Report addresses at the bottom of page 2.
I had mixed feelings reading the September FP Report article about the AMA initiative on ethical gift-giving by the pharmaceutical industry. On the one hand, any action on this front should be welcome. On the other hand, the AMA has, in my view, already tarnished itself in this effort by the manner in which it first accepted industry funding for the project, and then engaged in some rather unbecoming bluster when challenged on this by the media. I would hope that the AAFP could approach this topic in a way that illustrates a higher level of organizational integrity and will, hopefully, produce guidelines with more teeth in them.
In a letter in the same issue, Rocky Khosla, M.D., dismisses concerns for the ethics of interacting with pharmaceutical representatives as "baloney." However, a large and growing body of evidence indicates that those physicians who are most heavily influenced by the drug companies are (1) least aware of their being influenced and (2) most liable to get angry when accused of being influenced. An excellent source of information on this topic is at www.nofreelunch.org online.
Howard Brody, M.D.
East Lansing, Mich.Editor's note: See story above for AAFP's approach to this topic.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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