Paying physicians to recruit patients into trials: The ethical concerns (press release)

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Trudo Lemmens and Paul Miller, from the University of Toronto, say that the increasing prevalence of such recruitment incentives is directly related to growing competition between research sponsors. The fees offered to health professionals for successful recruitment can be substantial, they say--finder's fees ranging between $2,000 and $5,000 per patient are common.

Lemmens and Miller outline a number of concerns raised by finder's fees and other types of incentives. The prospect of these fees, they say, "may interfere with the judgment of physicians trusted by patients to act in their best interests." Other concerns include the risk of compromising patient safety and the erosion of public trust in clinical research.

"The problems raised by finder's fees cannot be resolved by focusing exclusively on sanctioning the individuals who may accept them," say Lemmens and Miller. Instead, they argue that the problems ought to be addressed "as part of a broader institutional and regulatory reform effort designed to address weaknesses in research governance."

Contact: Andrew Hyde press@plos.org 44-122-346-3330 Public Library of Science

PLoS MEDICINE (www.plosmedicine.org) Citation: Lemmens T, Miller PB (2006) Regulating the market in human research participants. PLoS Med 3(8): e330.
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Related Articles: • Physicians and bribery: a closer look at this common medical industry practice • The great direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising con: how patients and doctors alike are easily influenced to demand dangerous drugs • Western Medicine's Domination By Egoistic, Narrow-Minded Male Physicians Now Being Overturned by an Increase in Female Doctors	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/020595.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/020595.html">Paying physicians to recruit patients into trials: The ethical concerns (press release)</a>