The Invisible Influence of Industry Inducements.

The article presents the authors' views on the influence of gifts from the pharmaceutical industry to physicians. They claim that the effects of these gifts are invisible to the physician and that the influence of gifts is difficult to monitor or protect against. They also note there are other practices that do not involve gifts that also place physicians in a precarious situation, such as the distribution of pharmaceutical samples, provider profiling, and corporate sponsorship of medical education.