White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine by Carl Elliott

Abstract

A host of books describes and analyzes what’s wrong with current medical practices (Bauer 2014). This one mentions a few important points I had not seen emphasized in other places.
The author is a bioethicist, M.D. and Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and philosophy at the Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota. Three chapters of the book deal with matters much written about elsewhere: Chapter 2, The Ghosts—drug-company–written material published as though coming from independent and authoritative sources; Chapter 3, The Detail Men, the drug salespeople who visit doctors and hospitals dispensing goodies and biased information; Chapter 4, Thought Leaders, the doctors and researchers co-opted (and handsomely remunerated) by drug companies to advertise their wares as though they were independent authorities.