The Medical Freedom Channel

“Nearly 95 percent of physicians in the U.S. receive free food, beverages, drug samples, sports tickets or other benefits from drug company sales representatives eager to influence their prescribing habits, according to a report Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Family practice physicians, who prescribe a broad range of drugs, were more likely to receive visits and gifts from sales reps than other specialist groups involved in the survey, researchers said. Doctors in group practices were likelier to pocket fees for consulting or lectures than physicians at hospitals and clinics, which tend to have rules limiting contacts between the medical staff and industry, according to the report.” (04/29/07)