Who's really behind articles published in the most prestigious medical journals? The doctors? Medical school researchers? The pharmaceutical companies? To some, it's a fine line.
 
Tonight at 7:00 p.m. on WFMZ-TV 69, The American Law Journal addresses "The Medical Ghostwriting Controversy."  Attorney host Christopher Naughton welcomes plaintiff's attorney Brian McCormick of Sheller, P.C. and defense counsel Ronni Fuchs of Dechert.  Joining the panel are bioethicist Colleen Lyons of Ethical Stability and Jim Edwards, CBS Interactive/BNET Reporter who writes and blogs the daily "Pharma Industry Alert."

 

The panel examines the ongoing dispute regarding medical authorship, pharmaceutical industry influence and medical communications companies hired to write the article.
 
"Beyond ghostwriting, we're seeing 'ghost management'," says McCormick. "Pharmaceutical companies take it from the very beginning- who wrote the protocol, who came up with the study, who designed the analysis and then who does the analysis. And leading it all the way up to the publication."
 
"So if a study is done by scientists and then passes peer review... it shouldn't matter whose name is on the article" states Fuchs. "What matters is we have faith in the process and system. If a doctor puts his name on an article that he would have written had he had time, there's really nothing wrong with that."
 
The American Law Journal broadcasts every Monday night at 7:00 p.m. on WFMZ-TV 69 in the tri-state area.  Next week: "Workers Comp Benefits in a Trying Economy."