Oops! Medical Device Company Identifies Wrong Physician
Earlier this week, a number of major orthopedic medical device companies, as part of an anti-kickback settlement agreement, began posting on their websites the names of physicians to whom the companies have paid consulting fees. Now, as a perfect example of why this "transparency" is a danger to all physicians, a Michigan newspaper is reporting that one of the companies, Smith and Nephew, incorrectly identified a physician on its website. Apparently the physician in question does not and never had a consulting relationship with the company. A spokesman for Smith & Nephew blamed the mix up on some kind of sorting error.
