Doctor gifts banned by WI Medical Society

In a move similar to one made last year by the University of Pittsburgh [1], providers of pharmaceutical and medical devices were dealt a blow last week when the Wisconsin Medical Society's board voted in favor of banning all gifts, calling the practice "a conflict of interest between a physician committed to patient care and companies who desire to sell their products." The board used the Journal of the American Medical Association as the base [2] for its decision.

Under the ban, physicians also are not allowed to serve as "members of a health company's speaker bureau," and cannot be cited as authors for articles written by health product companies. According to Modern Healthcare, the policy "eases the burdens of compliance, biased decision making and patient mistrust."

For more information:
- read the Modern Healthcare article [3]

Related Articles:
Pharmas adopt voluntary marketing guidelines banning doctor gifts [4]
Reader feedback: Is limiting industry gifts a smart policy? [5]
UC Davis mulls pharma freebies ban [6]