Group urges ban on medical giveaways

Drug and medical device companies should be banned from offering free food, gifts, travel and ghost-writing services to doctors, staff members and students in all 129 of the nation's medical colleges, says the Association of American Medical Colleges. The proposed ban is the result of a two-year effort by the group to create a model policy governing interactions between the schools and industry. Schools can ignore the association's advice, but most follow its recommendations. The rules would apply only to medical schools, but they could have enormous influence across medicine, said Dr. David Rothman, president of the Institute on Medicine.