August 19, 2010

Australian view: journalists, MDs, universities & conflicts of interest – an unholy mess

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On the Croakey blog, Melissa Sweet writes about some burning conflict of interest questions in her corner of the world. Excerpt:

“…it would be useful to have a central online registry where journalists and others could easily search to see the commercial ties and COI policies of health and medical experts. This might also be useful for patients, especially when making major health care decisions. I was heartened to hear one psychiatrist in the audience is considering how best to declare such information to patients.

Meanwhile, I also showed this image of a flier distributed at the Dietitians Association of Australia conference in Darwin last year.”

While we’re on the Mac attack, a PR company (which I’ve asked to stop sending me stuff), compared its clients’ claims in a head-to-head with McD.

Mac Medifast.jpg

I’m not taking sides. I really don’t care. Let ’em fight it out in the gutter.

And to the PR company, I ask again that you stop sending me your fluffy news releases.

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