Institute of Medicine calls for doctors to stop taking gifts from drug makers

In a report, the Institute of Medicine said doctors should stop taking much of the money, gifts, and free drug samples they routinely accept from drug and device companies. The report is a stinging indictment of many of the most common means by which drug and device makers endear themselves to doctors, medical schools, and hospitals. It is even more damning than a similar one released last year by the Association of American Medical Colleges, which proposed tough new rules governing interactions between companies and medical schools.