Beginning in 2013, the law requires pharmaceutical and device companies to disclose payments (including those made in kind) to doctors, writes Dr Lesley Russell, the Menzies Foundation Fellow at the Menzies Center for Health Policy.
Medical journalism
Spinning the Media: Spin doctors have plenty to say in health reporting
When it comes to health reporting, the relationship between journalists and public relations people could be in need of a check-up, writes Flint Duxfield.
Homebirth saga turns the tables on medical journals
The very publications that publish critiques of health journalism — medical journals — are coming under fire for their own contributions to journalism that misleads and misinforms, writes Melissa Sweet.
Reflections from the retiring editor of the Medical Journal of Australia
After many years at the helm of the Medical Journal of Australia, Dr Martin Van Der Weyden is retiring. He shares reflections on life in the hot seat with Melissa Sweet.
Big Pharma pushing the pens on medical literature
Newly revealed court papers show that pharmaceutical companies paid ghostwriters to contribute to 26 papers published in medical journals supporting hormone replacement therapy, which was subsequently found to increase the risk of heart disease, cancer and dementia.
HuffPo‘s unhealthy quackery
Pay peanuts… It’s one thing for The Huffington Post’s army of unpaid bloggers to pontificate on politics, but when it comes to science and medicine, it’s just irresponsible to publish the crackpot theories of unqualified, self-appointed “experts” says doctor Rahul K. Parikh.
Media failing to report medical conflicts of interest
Too many medical stories look more like promotion than journalism- and have been driven by the powerful marketing machinery of one of the most profitable industries on the planet, writes Roy Moynihan.
The ties that bind: how big pharma buys a good press
While efforts are underway in Australia and elsewhere to disentangle the ties between doctors and drug companies (as reported in Crikey yesterday), the spotlight should also be illuminating another influential profession’s conflicts of interest.
