… is at it again, giving the local newspaper such a runaround on their conflict of interest policy deliberations that the paper, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, has sued.
The University of Wisconsin’s medical school and its supporting foundation are violating the state’s public records law by refusing to release faculty comments about a proposed conflict-of-interest policy, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.
The suit was filed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and reporter John Fauber, who has written extensively about the relationships between drug companies, medical-device makers, doctors and medical schools. It seeks a court order to make the comments public.
… UW’s medical school and its doctors have been the subject of a yearlong series of stories in the Journal Sentinel.
… Critics believe the money drug and medical-device companies pay to doctors and medical schools leads to higher health care costs, in part by increasing the use of expensive brand-name drugs as well as more so-called off-label use, when a drug or device is used for a purpose not approved by the FDA…