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Conflicts of Interest at the Doctor's Office Whether it's free lunches from pharmaceutical company reps or industry-sponsored educational events, many doctors are constantly connected to the drug industry. These ties help keep doctors up to date, but do they also create conflicts of interest that could compromise patient health? Plus, guests examine whether clinical researchers face the same ethical issues as physicians.

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Conflicts of Interest at the Doctor's Office

Heard on Talk of the Nation

Conflicts of Interest at the Doctor's Office

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Whether it's free lunches from pharmaceutical company reps or industry-sponsored educational events, many doctors are constantly connected to the drug industry. These ties help keep doctors up to date, but do they also create conflicts of interest that could compromise patient health?

Guests:

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, medical oncologist and bioethicist; chair, Department of Clinical Bioethics; the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health

Dr. Sanford Friedman, cardiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital; associate clinical professor, medicine/cardiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Dr. Jerome Kassirer, author of On the Take: How Medicine's Complicity with Big Business can Endanger Your Health; former editor, New England Journal of Medicine; distinguished professor; Tufts University School of Medicine