cover image White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine

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

Carl Elliott, Beacon, $24.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-8070-6142-8

While most people are vaguely aware of the uncomfortable symbiosis between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry, few would believe the flagrant bribery and brow-beating that occurs, according to Elliott's (Better Than Well) latest. Pharmaceutical companies have overwhelming influence over research studies, grant funding, and the decisions or suggestions that doctors make regarding the care of their patients. As the financial stakes continue to increase, the pharmaceutical industry has an even greater incentive to obfuscate potentially harmful findings about their products. Elliot, a professor of bioethics at the University of Minnesota, methodically exposes every aspect of the connection between Big Pharma and medicine, interviewing experiment subjects, doctors, pharmaceutical sales reps, and others on the frontlines of the issue to give readers a thorough understanding of what lies behind a simple prescription. Employing often shocking stories to reveal larger ethical problems in the industry, Elliott offers no easy answers in an effort that informs and inflames in equal measure. (Sept.)