Pharma Kickbacks

The story about Yale Medical Group instituting guidelines "that doctors refrain from accepting gifts, meals or free medications of any value from drug companies" has been making the rounds out here. That's because similar measures are being instituted at hospitals in the SF Bay area. To give you a flavor of the kinds of atrocities being prevented by these measures, I thought I'd show you a picture (not mine, but one I found online) of a gift I was given as a 40th birthday present. It came from someone whose father was a pharmacist. He got it as a gift from a Pfizer rep.

I have been looking for a proper occasion to wear the tie now for very close to 10 years. Still, I can't bear to toss it out.