Folks, I have been reading the debate on the nexus between big pharma and some of the physicians with much amusement. The initial kick was made with a simple link that implied that there may be a nexus between the pharmaceutical companies and the physicians who prescribe the medications these companies manufacture.
Well, a link provided below connects you to a database that you can search in to locate any doctor in the US by name (whether partial name, or first name or last name - it does not matter), the system will pull out his/her details along with how much money he/she received and why it was paid. The database was compiled by a non-profit named 'ProPublica' that claims to deal with stories of public interest. On its website, ProPublica writes that "drug companies have long kept secret details of the payments they make to doctors for promoting their drugs. But seven companies have begun posting names and compensation on the Web, some as the result of legal settlements. ProPublica compiled these disclosures, totaling $258 million, into a single database that allows patients to search for their doctor. Receiving payments isn’t necessarily wrong, but it does raise ethical issues". Hit on the link below and see if any of your doctors received any of the stash. None of our doctors - our family doctor, my wife's gynecologist nor my kids pediatrician accepted any money. If any one of them did accept, I'd drop them off in a jiffy, regardless of why he/she took the money. http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars Jim F New York.
