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To the Editor: Mr Dana and Dr Loewenstein¹ concluded that pharmaceutical industry gifts to physicians should be banned.

As they stated, the evidence is clear: pharmaceutical gifts influence physician behavior, often by steering physicians away from the most cost-efficient treatment. We at the American Medical Student Association are also concerned that the ubiquitous pens and office supplies bearing the mark of pharmaceutical companies degrades the professionalism of physicians in the eyes of their patients.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, individuals from several drug companies admitted to disliking the cost and inefficiencies of the current system of disseminating information through detailing by representatives over lunches.² Patient advocacy groups have long called for change in the system. Physicians may indeed be the largest stumbling block to change, but they are also the individuals most empowered to make that change: they can simply refuse the pharmaceutical largesse.

While medical students may . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Chris McCoy
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Cleveland, Ohio
American Medical Student Association
Reston, Va

Lauren Oshman, MD, MPH
American Medical Student Association

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