Where are the medical associations?

Over the last several years, many of us have raised issues concerning the propriety and appropriateness of doctors receiving funding from medical device companies.  For my part, I consider such payments as harmful, violating the trust between doctors and patients.  In some cases, they clearly influence the clinical behavior of doctors.  In other cases, they simply raise doubts about doctors' loyalty to patients' interests at a time when we should be enhancing that partnership, rather than eroding it.  When I make these points--in general or in specific--many US doctors respond by saying, in essence, "Well, everyone does it."In contrast, people from other countries are appalled when they read of these kinds of payments.  They are viewed as unseemly, at a minimum, and often as corrupting of the relationship between doctors and patients.But how likely are thing going to change in the US?There are a plethora of US medical associations, each representing a specialty in the field, e.g., urology, obstetrics and gynecology.  They perform useful and helpful functions, from board certification to publication of professional journals to continuing medical education.However, many of those associations themselves solicit and enjoy the sponsorship of those same companies that provide funds to individual doctors.  So how can we ever expect that they would adopt meaningful prohibitions on these matters for their members?Until and unless the specialty ass...
Source: Running a hospital - Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs