MEDICINE Avoid the Conflicts

There appears to be a financial conflict of interest on hospital medical review boards, which monitor experiments on patients.

The Associated Press, quoting a New England Journal of Medicine article, says about a third of review board members typically take money – royalties, consulting fees or other benefits – from the makers of products being tested.

Most review board members are doctors or scientists, the AP reports.

Surely, they put human lives above the interests of companies that pay them money. At least consciously.

But, one might wonder, are they subconsciously predisposed toward favoring those companies?

Those who have ties to the companies should not serve on review boards.

It’s better to avoid the appearance of conflicting interests, particularly when lives hang in the balance.

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