BMJ  2008;336:476 (1 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39493.489213.AD

Head to Head

Has the hunt for conflicts of interest gone too far? Yes

¹ Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Translational Medicine and Hematology Divisions, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 1 Blackfan Circle, Karp 6, Boston, MA 02115 USA

doi: 10.1136/bmj.39491.391215.94

Thomas Stossel argues that restrictions on doctors’ and academics’ interaction with commercial companies are damaging research, but Kirby Lee believes it is a price worth paying to maintain public trust

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Most of us politely ignore street evangelists urging us to repent of our sins. Bizarrely however, academic medical administrators base policy on such preaching by anti-business activists. Their sermons, echoed by medical journals and the news media, warn that medical practitioners, educators, or researchers accepting gifts from or payments for services to companies producing medical products compromise their scientific objectivity and professionalism. Strangely, financial transactions between patients, insurance companies, hospitals, and doctors, encompassing 85% of the medical marketplace, do not count as conflicts of interest.

To be sure, corporations, like everyone else, sometimes behave badly and are punished. The key question, however, is whether detailed disclosure of conflicts of interest and stringent prophylactic management are in the public interest. I believe the answer is a resounding no.

Increasingly, conflict of interest policies exclude conflicted experts, however qualified, from writing reviews or editorials in some journals or from advising regulatory bodies . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Has the hunt for conflicts of interest gone too far? No

Kirby Lee
BMJ 2008 336: 477. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

What have we learnt from Vioxx?

Harlan M Krumholz, Joseph S Ross, Amos H Presler, and David S Egilman
BMJ 2007 334: 120-123. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Moy, B. (2008). Medical Integrity Up in Smoke? Conflicts of Interest and the Lung Cancer Screening Controversy. The Oncologist 13: 474-476 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

who to trust?

Michael Tremblay
bmj.com, 1 Mar 2008 [Full text]

Money motivation is a two way street

david egilman
bmj.com, 2 Mar 2008 [Full text]

We need to agree on the conflicts and train to manage them

Peter Aitken
bmj.com, 1 Mar 2008 [Full text]

Questions for Dr.Stossel

Robert Matz
bmj.com, 4 Mar 2008 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more >>