Medical Disclosure Riles Professor

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Thomas P. Stossel, a professor at Harvard Medical School and member of the Board of Trustees of the corporate-funded American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), accuses medical journals and regulators requiring conflict of interest statements from doctors of bowing to "preaching by anti-business activists." "Medical journals waste space on meaningless compilations of who receives what payments from companies and dubious 'social science research' purporting to prove that most doctors lack the intelligence or character to be wary of promotional claims," Stossel complained. Kirby Lee, from the University of California, San Francisco disagrees. "Such requirements may frustrate clinicians and researchers but, in doing so, will help to ensure the safety and welfare of the public, uphold scientific integrity, and preserve trust," she responded. "And when you become the patient, wouldn't you want to be assured that medical decisions are made in your best interest?"