NJ AG Milgram cracks down on MD's-but not politicians!

One cannot help but laugh at New Jersey State Attorney General Anne Milgram. She is very concerned over doctors that are influenced by drug corporations and wants to put a stop to it. From Philly.com:

State Attorney General Anne Milgram has recommended banning doctors licensed in the state from accepting gifts that don't directly benefit their patients, and requiring them to report consulting fees greater than $200.

The choice to put the responsibility on doctors, met with scorn from the Medical Society of New Jersey, was deliberate. The state has direct control over doctors through its licensing process. And, Milgram said, doctors should be conscious of how their relationships with manufacturers can influence care.

"It really is, at the end of the day, each individual doctor's conflict of interest as much as it is the industry's," she said.

I frankly don't care one way or another about the merits of the AG's recommendation. But I do find it odd that the Attorney General is VERY concerned over "conflicts of interest" all of a sudden. She has never seemed very interested in the past as her Democratic party colleagues were arrested and sent to jail-BY OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS! You see, poor Annie isn't interested in corruption in our state by elected officials, party bosses, judges or others who break the public trust.

But God forbid Dr Smith dares to support a product who sales rep took him to dinner! Maybe during that dinner the doctor actually learned something about the product he is recommending that he didn't already know that would be beneficial to his patient. Sorry Anne.

A conflict of interest is an Assembly member receiving 96 percent of their campaign contributions by organized labor special interest organizations many of which are from out of state. Now who do you think is more likely to do something to the detriment of their partner to the benefit of the organization creating the conflict? The doctor-patient? Or the Democrat-voter?

Read the entire article here.

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