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Fred Rosner, MD
Mount Sinai Services at Queens Hospital Center Jamaica, NY

JAMA. 1997;278(19):1567.

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

To the Editor.

—Dr Westfall and colleagues¹ consider the personal use of drug samples by physicians and office staff to constitute "a substantial gift from pharmaceutical companies" and that "the ethical implications... warrant further debate." Gifts to physicians from the pharmaceutical industry constitute a long-accepted tradition in the complex relationships between drug companies and the medical profession. Medical students are offered free books, free reflex hammers, free tuning forks, and a variety of other gifts. At medical conventions, physicians strolling through the exhibition halls are able to obtain gratis dozens of different items from pens to key chains, from calculators to watches, from tennis balls to floppy disks, from fresh juices to espresso coffee, and on and on.²

Should these gifts be considered to constitute a bribe? Are these gifts given freely by the pharmaceutical industry with no ulterior motives? Although drug companies and biotechnology firms consider these gifts to be . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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