Phot0 by LARS PLOUGHMAN
Roy Poses, M.D., who runs the Health Care Renewal site linked here, asserts:
“The important conflicts of interest generated when academic healthcare leaders also serve on the boards of directors of for-profit healthcare corporations is suddenly less anechoic, thanks to some intrepid researchers and the British Journal of Medicine.”
Dr. Poses says: “As we have said again and again, the web of conflicts of interest that is pervasive in medicine and healthcare is now threatening to strangle medicine and health care. Furthermore, this web is now strong enough to have effectively transformed U.S. healthcare into an oligarchy or plutocracy. Health care is effectively run by a relatively small group of people, mainly professional managers plus a few (lapsed?) healthcare professionals, who simultaneously run or influence multiple corporations and organizations.”
And:”For patients and the public to trust healthcare professionals and healthcare organizations, they need to know that these individuals and organizations are putting patients’ and the public’s health ahead of private gain. Healthcare professionals who care for patients, those who teach about medicine and health care, clinical researchers, and those who make medical and healthcare policy should do so free from conflicts of interest that might inhibit their abilities to put patients and the public’s health first.”
