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Medicine

Ethics lapses among doctors are posing growing risks to the health of Americans. Many doctors improperly accept gifts and cash from pharmaceutical companies or work for multi-level marketing companies like Amway selling dietary supplements of dubious health benefits. Numerous doctors and hospitals have also been implicated in various kinds of healthcare fraud. The American Medical Association, state medical societies, and legal authorities have struggled to respond to a growing tide of ethical misconduct among doctors.

Focus: The Neurontin Case
The marketing scandal around the anti-epilepsy drug Neurontin continues to offer an eye-opening look at how doctors allow themselves to be bribed by drug-makers. Leading doctors accepted tens of thousands of dollars from Parke-Davis (owned by Pfizer) to promote Neurontin for off-label uses -- without revealing their lucrative arrangement with the drugmaker.

	Full text of the complaint filed by consumer groups bringing a lawsuit against Parke-David (.pdf format)
	Interview with David Franklin, the whistleblower in the case
	Pfizer calls for federal government to drop case

Drug companies and doctors

The pharmaceutical industry is spending billions of dollars annually to influence the behavior of doctors and future doctors. It is estimated that 80,000 drug representatives visit doctors annually. Big Pharma is also spending heavily to establish ties with medical students.

	An overview of conflicts of interest between doctors and drug companies
	Is the medical profession being bought by pharmaceutical companies? An investigation
	Pharmaceutical industry influence at medical schools
	Medical journal relaxes conflict-of-interest rules: Says independent doctors not compromised by private ties are too hard to find
	Doctors plead guilty to defrauding government and taking improper gifts in TAP pharmaceutical case
	New York Times investigation explores how doctors compromise patient health to earn cash rewards for clinical drug trials

A Profession Compromised

The ethics problems within medicine take many different forms. While questionable ties between doctors and pharmaceutical companies top the list these days, other problems abound.

	Doctors perform unnecessary spinal fusions to make money
	Before the recent FDA ban, many doctors sold ephedra despite health risks
	More doctors working with multilevel marketing companies
	Why doctors sell Amway
	Lasik eye surgery popularized through unethical marketing procedures
	Study: Thousands of doctors are not disciplined
	Poll: Most doctors say it’s okay to lie to HMOs

Healthcare Fraud

Overbiling and fraud has been common in the healthcare industry in recent years, bleeding the system of an estimated $100 billion a year. Both individual doctors and large healthcare providers have been implicated in these scandals.

	Healthcare fraud a growing national problem; overview and facts
	A $100 billion problem. Read an excerpt of License to Steal, an expose of healthcare fraud
	State medical boards often take no action against medical providers who commit insurance fraud
	Tenet Healthcare Corp. admits healthcare fraud
	Tenet blasted by Sen. Grassley as among worst companies in annals of healthcare fraud

FOCUS: Columbia/HCA Case

In 2000, one of the nation's largest healthcare providers agreed to a $745 million settlement with the Justice Department, which found pervasive fraud in operations.

	The Biggest Healthcare Fraud in History
	Columbia/HCA executives convicted of fraud
	New York Comptroller press release on Columbia/HCA suit