Does Marketing Interfere with Medicine?

American doctors and teaching hospitals got more than $3.5 billion from drug companies and medical device makers in just five months of last year. Payments went not just for medical research, but for promotional speaking, “consulting” and dining out—raising disturbing questions. Do doctors always prescribe what’s best for their patients—or for their own pocket books? Do they even recognize their own conflicts of interest? Doctors themselves are hotly divided. How much do patients really need to know?

Also, an update on the Ebola case, and why has half the world’s wildlife just disappeared?

Banner Image Credit: David Goehring