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  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Law and Medicine  • Alert me on articles by topic

Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2008;299(14):1657.

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

Payments from medical device manufacturers to surgeons and physicians may be harming patient care, said Sen Herb Kohl (D, Wis), chairman of the Senate's Special Committee on Aging.

During a February 27 hearing, Kohl, while noting that relationships among the medical device industry, surgeons, and physicians can encourage product innovation, said that these financial interactions have sometimes created conflicts of interest that lead to inappropriate influence over medical decisions.

Sen Herb Kohl (D, Wis) is concerned that acting as paid consultants for medical device manufacturers will affect surgeons' and physicians' medical decision making. (Photo credit: Office of Senator Herb Kohl)

Gregory E. Demske, assistant inspector general for legal affairs with the US Department of Health and Human Services, testified that from 2002 through 2006, 4 unnamed device manufacturers (that control almost 75% of the hip and knee replacement market) paid physician consultants more than $800 million under the . . . [Full Text of this Article]