Healthy Skepticism Library item: 20065

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Magazine

Blakemore S
RACGP set to crack down on pharma gifts
Medical Observer 2006 May 2616

Full text:

The RACGP says it will look at tough gift-acceptance guidelines introduced by another specialist college, with a view to adapting them for GPs.

In a recently published directive, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) decreed that doctors should not accept gifts from pharmaceutical companies – not even pens.

Until now, the RACGP has steadfastly stood by its own gift-acceptance policy and endorsed the AMA’s code of conduct.

Existing guidelines leave the onus on GPs to decide when and what types of gifts to accept.
The RACGP’s policy warns against “professional interactions” that focus on the “private good of either party”.

The AMA’s code of ethics states GPs should “refrain from entering into any contract with a colleague or organization which may conflict with professional integrity, clinical independence or your primary obligation to the patient”.

But over the past few weeks, doctors have come under fire for being on the pharmaceutical industry’s “gravy train”, and the RACGP appears to have changed its view.

While standing by its fellows for their “commitment to the highest standards of care”, the college said it looked forward to reviewing “the new RACGP policy and to assessing its applicability to GPs”.