PEDIATRICS Vol. 88 No. 6 December 1991, pp. 1280-1281
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Pediatricians' Relation to For-Profit Corporations

ARTHUR F. KOHRMAN MD1

1 La Rabida Children's Hospital and Research Center, Dept of Pediatrics, Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Of all the forms of deception, self-deception is both the most ubiquitous and the most resistant to detection and correction. When sanctioned and legitimated by professional groups, Dr Margolis1 argues, self-deception is all the more pernicious and dangerous. Most important, he asserts that the collective belief that physician behavior is not influenced by gift-giving pharmaceutical companies is an abandonment of the fiduciary responsibility of the physician and an ethical violation of the first order.

Dr Margolis describes in excellent fashion how that abandonment violates fundamental ethical principles of nonmaleficence, fidelity, and justice. He also suggests that the pursuit of the self-deception threatens the very autonomy which physicians cherish as the bedrock of their professional identity.

Submitted on June 25, 1991
Accepted on June 25, 1991