Ghostwriting, in its entirety, is a great resource for physicians and hospitals to utilize, especially with the hectic schedule that comes with being a doctor. However, at what point does use of a ghostwriter become abuse?

Reported in the New York Times, "newly unveiled court documents show that ghostwriters paid by a pharmaceutical company played a major role in producing 26 scientific papers backing the use of hormone replacement therapy in women, suggesting that the level of hidden industry influence on medical literature is broader than previously known."

The pharmaceutical company at bay is Wyeth, which reportedly paid a medical communications company $25,000 per article. The medical communications company would create an outline, send it to a physician for approval, draft an article, resend it to the same physician for final approval and eventually publish it under the approving physician's name as the author. In most cases the physician rarely or never wrote a single word of a scientific article.

The necessity of accuracy in scientific articles does not need to be hammered down; the mere mention of accuracy is enough. The fact that scientific articles are being published without much direct ownership of authority is slightly scary if not completely dishonest.

Ghostwriting does have it's place in the medical field. However, in order to maintain the ethical and scientific integrity of evidence-based medicine, doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies must ensure that articles are indeed evidence-based.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/health/research/05ghost.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&em