Notes on three scandals

Medicine has its fair share of scandals. This week The BMJ reports on three. First, cardiologists John Dean and Neil Sulke highlight what they see as the scandal of the short life of pacemaker batteries (doi:10.1136/bmj.i228). Over half of patients with pacemakers will need new batteries, they say, and many need several replacements. But there are no incentives to develop longer life devices. Increasing longevity would reduce profits for manufacturers, implanting physicians, and their institutions, they say. Meanwhile, patients risk infection and other complications of replacement, and money is wasted …