Joseph Rago: A Cure for ‘Conflict of Interest’ Mania

Should a leading cardiologist be excluded from a panel creating clinical treatment guidelines for heart disease if in treating patients she has reached strong conclusions about how to treat heart disease and thus may “bias” the panel’s conclusions? Is a physician crooked if he accepts lunch, a baseball cap or a sticky-note pad from a drug rep? And is the credibility of scientists who develop a new pharmaceutical or device irredeemably compromised if their research is sponsored or funded by those industries?