Physicians? Corrupted!

I have written that physicians IN GENERAL are not interested in development of innovative products, this segment of health care industry is corrupted as anything else in this industry. And here is an example:

More than 13,000 physicians in New Jersey were among hundreds of thousands across the country paid $2 billion by pharmaceutical companies over the last four years to pitch brand-name drugs to their peers and conduct research, according to the most extensive study of the financial relationship between the companies and medical practitioners.

In Bergen and Passaic counties, 38 doctors and two hospitals received more than $25,000 from pharmaceutical companies – making a combined $4.5 million, according to the report by ProPublica, a non-profit investigative news organization that compiled the figures from information major drug companies filed with the federal government.

While doctors are often paid to speak about drugs they have used on patients and believe in, the practice has raised persistent ethical concerns. Drug makers say they are tapping into the medical expertise of physicians to teach their peers or conduct research, but others worry the practice may unduly influence the medications prescribed to patients.