The brouhaha over pharmaceutical companies' payments to doctors is making some big waves in Congress. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) says he's going to propose a bill that would require drug makers to 'fess up to any payments for consulting, lectures, and the like. Pharma, of course, is against the measure; a drug company lawyer said that making the cash flow public would lay the money bare to misinterpretation: People might think the payments are bribes, when they're just remuneration for services rendered. Besides, the poor doctors might be too embarrassed to attend those money-for-attendance seminars, thus neglecting their education.
- read the article on the bill from The New York Times