Is Your Doctor on Big Pharma's Payroll?

Many doctors have been accused in recent years of unnecessarily prescribing drugs that pharmaceutical companies pay them to promote: Could your doctor be one of them? ProPublica has created a new database that tracks pharmaceutical companies’ payments to doctors, who have earned more than $257.8 million in such payments since 2009 for speaking, consulting, and other duties. Eli Lilly alone has spent more than $100 million in such payments. ProPublica says it has “uncovered hundreds of doctors on company payrolls who had been accused of professional misconduct, were disciplined by state boards or lacked credentials as researchers or specialists.” Misconduct includes inappropriately prescribing drugs, providing poor care, and having sex with patients.