Dr. Weiswasser Letter to the New York Times Editor

This article originally posted on The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction:

In response to a front page article in the New York Times (U.S. to Force Drug Firms to Report Money Paid to Doctors, January 16, 2012), Dr. Jonathan Weiswasser of The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction submitted this Letter to the Editor, which was published on January 22 in The Times.

To the Editor:

I am in full agreement that as a means to guarantee against interference by pharmaceutical companies in doctors’ judgment, the federal government has an obligation to regulate certain marketing practices by drug and device manufacturers.

Let’s please apply the same standard to those who are imposing these regulations and document all the ways in which these same manufacturers are allowed to influence our elected representatives in their decision-making process through lobbying.

The hypocrisy here is unreal.

JONATHAN M. WEISWASSER
Shrewsbury, N.J., Jan. 17, 2012

The writer is a vascular surgeon.