Skip to main content

Memorial Sloan Kettering in Bed With Industry


Is there corruption in the medical profession?  Recall Captain Renault’s iconic rejoinder to Rick in Casablanca.

“I’m shocked, shocked to find there is gambling going on in here!”



In any enterprise with billions of dollars at stake, and when different players have competing interests which may not coincide with the public’s interests, there will be skullduggery.  How do you think our Defense Department and its relationships with vendors would look if we were able to shine a bright light on all its faces?  Do you think it’s possible that a weapons manufacturer might argue, through lobbyists and salesmen, that its weapons are essential to national security and superior to those of a competitor?   How about when a congressman argues for the continued purchase of military equipment manufactured in his district that military experts state is no longer needed?  And, there’s the quintessential and craven corruption of legislators refusing to close military bases in their districts that the military want to close down.

And, so it is with the Medical Industrial Complex where the arena is filled with jousting pharmaceutical execs, hospital administrators, insurance companies, the government, medical device companies, physicians, pharmacy benefit managers, politicians and the public – all competing to protect their interests.  Does this system seem optimal to achieve a greater good for society?

Recently, the Chief Medical Officer of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City ‘resigned’ in the wake of disclosures that he failed to disclose financial relationships with outside health care companies.  In other words, it was a failure to disclose that ousted him, not the conflict.
 
Here’s my riposte to this.  The obvious weakness in our current disclosure policy is that the emphasis is on the disclosure and not the conflict.  Following nearly every medical article that I read, appears a long list of disclosures, often in small font, listing the various business relationships that the authors have with various companies.  Apparently, in the authors’ and the editors’ minds, the disclosures have provided them with adequate ethical insulation.  They argue that readers can weigh the disclosures when they assess the authors’ credibility. For example, if an article is extolling a new diagnostic test, readers may be informed that the author is a paid speaker for the company that manufacturers the test.  The actual conflict, however, remains. 

Over the past 10 years or so, practicing physicians and scientists have been so deluged with disclosures in our journals and at our professional meetings that we have become numb to them.  (How carefully do we listen to the safety presentation given by flight attendants prior to take off?)  The ongoing tsunami of medical disclosures have vitiated their potency, and as I stated above, do not address the actual conflicts. 

The connections between medical science and medical industry can create great benefits for humanity.  I accept and encourage this.  And, I’m all for full disclosure.   But, personal and institutional integrity must be paramount.  Oftentimes, the conflict itself should be disqualifying and no simple disclosure should be permitted to cure it.

Addendum:  The Chief Medical Officer who 'resigned' was immediately hired by... yes, you guessed it, a pharmaceutical company!  And, Sloan Kettering (SK) now prohibits its leaders from serving on corporate boards.   Can we assume this to be an admission that SK now recognizes that such business relationships are improper or did they simply feel the optics were uncomfortable.

Comments, confessions, and disclosures welcome. 


Comments

  1. Thank you for covering this very important topic of conflicts of interest throughout the pharmaceutical and medical channels which is long over due for exposure and change. Hearing the level of corruption at Memorial Sloan Kettering is unfortunately just one story of many untold stories that has unraveled. Pharmaceutical drugs/treatments have monopolized the industry for too long with high costs and with no curing properties and moreover, creating ill health due to its TOXIC side effects. Americans ears have opened on this and hearing of many other treatment modalities and options that exist worldwide and with new research studies, should force everyone of us to re-valuate our priorities and call our Congressman, Senators and the Whitehouse to start introducing other alternatives into our medical system's limited offering, which work extremely well without unwelcomed side effects, lower costs, getting to the root causes and wow, they work so well and I know because it has helped me to start addressing the negative side effects from pharmaceutical drugs. By introducing Homeopathy, Indian Ayurveda Medicine, Chinese Medicine, Tibetan Medicine and good old Pothecary Herbs, that has been in our country for centuries - ALL WORK GREAT and without TOXIC side effects. This in turn will also combat underlining power grab issues, corruption, self interests and create a level playing field. Hoping that you will take this message further and bring light to many Americans in need.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Most Doctors Choose Employment

Increasingly, physicians today are employed and most of them willingly so.  The advantages of this employment model, which I will highlight below, appeal to the current and emerging generations of physicians and medical professionals.  In addition, the alternatives to direct employment are scarce, although they do exist.  Private practice gastroenterology practices in Cleveland, for example, are increasingly rare sightings.  Another practice model is gaining ground rapidly on the medical landscape.   Private equity (PE) firms have   been purchasing medical practices who are in need of capital and management oversight.   PE can provide services efficiently as they may be serving multiple practices and have economies of scale.   While these physicians technically have authority over all medical decisions, the PE partners can exert behavioral influences on physicians which can be ethically problematic. For example, if the PE folks reduce non-medical overhead, this may very directly affe

Should Doctors Wear White Coats?

Many professions can be easily identified by their uniforms or state of dress. Consider how easy it is for us to identify a policeman, a judge, a baseball player, a housekeeper, a chef, or a soldier.  There must be a reason why so many professions require a uniform.  Presumably, it is to create team spirit among colleagues and to communicate a message to the clientele.  It certainly doesn’t enhance professional performance.  For instance, do we think if a judge ditches the robe and is wearing jeans and a T-shirt, that he or she cannot issue sage rulings?  If members of a baseball team showed up dressed in comfortable street clothes, would they commit more errors or achieve fewer hits?  The medical profession for most of its existence has had its own uniform.   Male doctors donned a shirt and tie and all doctors wore the iconic white coat.   The stated reason was that this created an aura of professionalism that inspired confidence in patients and their families.   Indeed, even today

Electronic Medical Records vs Physicians: Not a Fair Fight!

Each work day, I enter the chamber of horrors also known as the electronic medical record (EMR).  I’ve endured several versions of this torture over the years, monstrosities that were designed more to appeal to the needs of billers and coders than physicians. Make sense? I will admit that my current EMR, called Epic, is more physician-friendly than prior competitors, but it remains a formidable adversary.  And it’s not a fair fight.  You might be a great chess player, but odds are that you will not vanquish a computer adversary armed with artificial intelligence. I have a competitive advantage over many other physician contestants in the battle of Man vs Machine.   I can type well and can do so while maintaining eye contact with the patient.   You must think I am a magician or a savant.   While this may be true, the birth of my advanced digital skills started decades ago.   (As an aside, digital competence is essential for gastroenterologists.) During college, I worked as a secretary