Physicians accused of accepting kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies rarely face consequences, as none of more than 75 physicians named as participants in marketing fraud or kickback suits have been sanctioned since 2008, according to a ProPublica report.
Reporters from ProPublica, an independent, non-profit investigative journalism group based in New York, reviewed hundreds of pages of court records and interviewed physicians, attorneys, federal prosecutors and state medical board officers.
ProPublica researched each physician named in a suit by checking for state medical board discipline, penalties from the Medicare program and federal criminal charges. In many of the cases, not even a cursory investigation was done to see whether the physicians had behaved inappropriately, according to the report.
The report says one factor that may influence the meager discipline of physicians is simply that they make unattractive targets. Pharmaceutical companies are generally profitable, bureaucratic and governed by strict laws. Physicians, though, are likely to devote every cent to their legal defenses to salvage their medical license. Juries are also more likely to think better of physicians, according to the report.
Another factor is burnout. After spending years taking on a drug company, many government lawyers are loath to tack on more time for a relatively minor victory, according to the report.
Related Articles on Physicians and Pharmaceutical Companies:
7 Cases of Healthcare Fraud Involving Physicians
Bristol-Myers Accused of Kickbacks, Bribing Physicians With Gifts
CVS Caremark Accused of Sharing Private Consumer Information to Promote Medications
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