Saturday, March 28, 2009

Take it back

Over the past few years the integrity of medical journals has come into question based largely on articles the journals have published, said articles having been written by a doctor who was being paid by the manufacturer of the product which was the subject of the article. At least one of these journals, that published by the AMA, has gotten upset by the criticism, so upset that they have crossed the line.

The current case concerns Dr. Jonathan Leo, who wrote a letter to to a British medical journal critical of an article that had been published in JAMA, the journal of the AMA. That article was written by someone who had a "financial relationship" with the manufacturer of the product featured in the article.

The editors of JAMA did not like this and asked Dr. Leo to retract the article. When he refused, the editors went to Dr. Leo's boss, who also refused. Dr. Leo also asserts that he was told that he would be barred from JAMA for life unless he retracted. You gotta wonder!

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