Conflicts of Interest

The following story was recounted to me by someone who was there:

He was indignant. Outraged, even. He was a department chair. A prominent psychiatrist and author of textbooks. A Key Opinion Leader in the field. How dare the New York Times question him?

The psychiatry residents sat in silence as he went on his rant. Every other medical specialty does the same thing! How come they didn't go after the orthopedic surgeons or the cardiologists, who made much more money from industry relationships than psychiatrists? They went after psychiatry and psychiatrists because of the stigma surrounding mental health. And what is this whole conflict of interest business, anyway? The New York Times even had an article on Michelle Obama's clothing retailer having a conflict of interest. It's ridiculous! And the senator who started all this, Senator Grassley? What about all of his campaign contributions? Does he have conflicts of interest?

He had more choice words for the Times and for Senator Grassley, but you get the idea. His mindset seemed to be that because what he was doing would ultimately help patients, he was beyond reproach as long as he was not committing any crimes. Since funding was limited, what was wrong with working with industry? When all the other specialities make more than psychiatrists, why shouldn't psychiatrists take part in entrepreneurial activities?

Not surprisingly, he is no longer the department chair. However, five years later, this mindset about conflicts of interest still remains with some (many?) of psychiatry's leaders. How else to explain the recent revelations about David Kupfer, chair of the DSM-5 task force? He failed to disclose that he was part of a company making a dimensional assessment for depression, both during the DSM-5 process and on an article that he co-authored with his business partner, statistician Dr. Robert Gibbons, who seems to be creating a commercial product with public money.

The ends do not justify the means. Just because someone else is doing it doesn't make it right. These may be rote lessons from childhood, but it seems that some people have conveniently forgotten them. In my opinion, this most likely happens not because of greed, but when people truly believe that they are doing good; therefore they must be good, and their critics must be bad. Narcissism is a powerful and dangerous thing.