This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Conflict of Interest  • Medical Ethics  • Alert me on articles by topic

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

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

RELATED ARTICLES

Psychological Aspects of Gifts From Drug Companies
Dana Katz, Peter Mansfield, Robert Goodman, Leonore Tiefer, and Jon Merz
JAMA. 2003;290(18):2404-2405.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Psychological Aspects of Gifts From Drug Companies
Michael S. Goldrich
JAMA. 2003;290(18):2405.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Psychological Aspects of Gifts From Drug Companies
Gary A. Tarshis
JAMA. 2003;290(18):2405.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Psychological Aspects of Gifts From Drug Companies
Michael Tansey
JAMA. 2003;290(18):2405-2406.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Psychological Aspects of Gifts From Drug Companies
Louis Bergeron
JAMA. 2003;290(18):2406.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Psychological Aspects of Gifts From Drug Companies—Reply
Jason Dana and George Loewenstein
JAMA. 2003;290(18):2406-2407.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Social Science Perspective on Gifts to Physicians From Industry
Jason Dana and George Loewenstein
JAMA. 2003;290(2):252-255.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT