This multipaneled comic follows a woman robot preparing for a breast examination. Oil “leakage” recurs in the comic, suggesting its ethical importance in metaphorically representing a patient’s stress responses.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(8):E646-650. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.646.
Industry sponsorship of continuing medical education is controversial. A standard to adhere to is that before accepting any industry-sponsored education or incentive, a physician should form an independent evaluation of the product.
Physicians should recognize the influence that small gift-giving has on prescribing patterns and consequently interactions between pharmaceutical representatives and medical students and residents should be limited.
A physician argues that accepting free drug samples leads to higher out-of-pocket costs for patients and urges other physicians to find different ways to help low-income patients save money on their prescription medications.
A physicians urges practitioners to use cost-effective alternatives to dispensing samples to patients who cannot afford to pay for their prescriptions.
Stanford University Medical School established a positive partnership with a pharmaceutical company to offer an industry-sponsored resident elective course in a way that minimizes conflict of interest and has been accepted by the ACGME.