As the practice of
bribes within the medical community is
becoming more well-known, more and more states are demanding disclosures--who's getting what, and how much?
The results show that psychiatrists rank number one when it comes to receiving money from
drug makers.
Vermont officials recently disclosed that
drug company payments to psychiatrists in their state more than doubled last year, to an average of $45,692.
It's hardly surprising to find that antipsychotic medications are among the largest expenses for the state's Medicaid program. Because although most doctors refuse to admit that they are in any way influenced by these gifts, the stats show a very different story.
Psychiatrists also ended up on top of the list in the state of Minnesota, where the payoffs topped out at $689,000. A previous New York Times investigation found that psychiatrists who took the most money from drug makers of
antipsychotic drugs also tended to
prescribe the drugs to children most frequently.
Drug makers spent $ 2.25 million on marketing payments, aka "detailing," in the state of Vermont last year. And that amount doesn't include the cost of free samples or the salaries of the sales reps.
Most of you reading this have already caught onto the
deadly game being played by the pharmaceutical industry. It's up to all of us to keep spreading the word, to turn this "death-by-profit" scheme on its ear.
The New York Times June 27, 2007