Ghostwriting

September 14, 2009

It was reported in The New York Times recently that Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican from the State of Iowa, was putting pressure on the National Institute of Health to crack down on the practice of Ghostwriting. Senator Grassley has been investigating conflict of interest in medicine. In his letter to the NIH, the Senator described medical ghostwriting as: “a practice in which drug and device companies hire medical communications and education companies to draft journal articles and then have “independent” academics sign onto them as the lead author.” He says that he is troubled by it.

Writing is very time consuming and many executive simply do not have the time. David Finn, in his article published by Fortune magazine back in 1986 titled: Exorcise the Executive Ghostwriters-Businessmen cheat their audiences, and themselves when they rely on others to pen their words wrote that:  ”Writing takes time because thinking carefully is time-consuming. The more time executives spend writing, the more time they will spend thinking.”

Ghostwriting is a common practice, in other fields beside the medical industry although it is not always called as such. We all know that presidents do not write their speeches but once the speech is given, he becomes the author. No one would imagine a president blaming the “ghostwriter” for something that was said and later regretted. In public relations we are often asked to write the draft of a statement, a press release or a speech for a client. We would not expect the client to reveal the fact that we authored the document that is made public. I have been asked in the past to write letters of recommendations from people who work for or with me. I sometimes ask them to write a draft that I edit (or not.) Once I signed the letter, I am the author.

Likewise, in my view, it is acceptable for a physician to sign an article if he or she fully endorses the content. As David Finn wrote in his article: “Executives should ask themselves whether the words on paper regardless of who wrote them, truly reflect their point of view and contain a message they believe is worth delivering.”  

There is no doubt that ghostwriting can be beneficial to the many of parties involved. Universities get funding from the pharmaceutical industry; physicians and consumers are provided with information about a particular drug; and yes, the pharmaceutical companies get a marketing platform for their products.

However, ghostwriting can present an ethical problem if it creates a conflict of interest situation.

If a physician or an academician is paid either to endorse a particular drug or write about it, (with or without the help of a ghostwriter,) the question will rise in peoples’ minds whether he really believes what he said or wrote. The independence and credibility of the author will be questioned even if the fact that the author was paid for an article had no influence whatsoever on its content. Unfortunately truth is not always believable.

As Professor and Psychologist David G. Myers once said:

“There is an objective reality out there, but we view it through the spectacles of our beliefs, attitudes, and values.”

| Add a comment | Permalink