Drugmakers disclose their payments to doctors, dentists, even chiropractors. But spending on nurse practitioners and physician assistants is excluded. Legislation in the Senate would change that.
A firm sold 18,000 knee-replacement tools before the government called a halt. The OtisKnee case shows just how easily trust can be violated in the rapidly evolving world of medical devices, a thriving $110 billion-a-year industry.
The former head of a prestigious Boston hospital found it unsettling that the surgical staff of an Illinois university medical center endorsed the medical device in an ad in the New York Times magazine. After he started asking questions, the hospital asked that the ad be suspended.