Financial Conflicts Taint 'Ivory Tower'

[Justin]

(MedPage Today) -- The relationship between industry and academia continues to be challenging, but at some point the scale may tip so that balance -- and academic integrity -- are at risk, as John Fauber details in this latest report on money in medicine...

Financial Conflicts Taint 'Ivory Tower' (click here for the full article at MedPage Today)

[laid up doc]

really hard to separate though, if you want to have innovators on your faculty... one of the plastic surgeons at my med school invented the VAC. he's become wildly rich from it, but the invention has helped untold patients. i was almost one of them! i guess the bottom line is probably that more disclosure needs to be made.

surgeons in private practice don't have protected research time to do such innovating, and many don't want to do anything but take care of patients. i'm not a surgeon, but patient care is my "thing"... not teaching (i'm ok w/ teaching residents in my specialty, but otherwise i feel patient care is slowed too much and compromised... and i'm not patient when it isn't necessary!), and certainly not research! i'm perfectly happy to put others' research to good use!