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In Reply: As Dr Eisman implies, I doubt students will stop accepting gifts or denying that gifts will influence them unless physician role models change their own behaviors, and I doubt that focusing on students alone will solve the problems to which he refers. In light of the increasing closeness of the medical profession with industry, including the use of business tactics (eg, self-advertising and profit-seeking) by many physicians and medical centers, I can understand why Eisman, other physicians, and much of the general public might link their images of the professional and business aspects of medicine.

Ultimately, though, I disagree with the statement that medicine is at its core both an idealistic profession and a business, since the goal of medicine is altruistic while the goal of business is making and investing profits for itself or corporate shareholders. The consequences of favoring profit over health are well known, dangerous, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Frederick S. Sierles, MD
frederick.sierles@rosalindfranklin.edu
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Rosalind Franklin University
North Chicago, Ill