Most physicians deny their professional integrity can be ‘bought’ by something as trivial as a cup of coffee or a free lunch, but according to Wall and Brown, the authors of The High Cost of Free Lunch, gifting physicians in this way is, in fact, a highly successful method of boosting drug sales.

A survey conducted by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of 397 members who participate in the Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network showed that 77 percent thought it was alright to accept a free “informational” lunch from a pharmaceutical company. In addition, many physicians expressed anger at the suggestion that accepting free meals from drug companies might compromise their professional ethics.

According to Wall and Brown, “There are 90,000 pharmaceutical sales representatives in the United States selling their products to 567,000 physicians (one sales representative for every 6.3 doctors) and they spend $12 billion per year on physician marketing.” The University of Michigan Medical Center decided to ban free lunches from drug companies after discovering that the pharmaceutical industry spent $2.5 million per year on its campus.

In Bribes for doctors: a gift for bioethicists? Peter Mansfield states that before physicians reject the suggestion that they can be bought, perhaps they need to consider the dictionary definition of BRIBE: Money or favor given or promised to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust.