Physician Payola: I guess it's nice to know that journalists are not the only ones falling prey to corporate corruption. Of course, I could be doing everyone involved an injustice. There may be some perfectly logical explanation for this:

"A prominent surgeon in Wisconsin was paid $400,000 a year by Medtronic for a consulting contract requiring him to work just eight days. Another doctor in Virginia received nearly $700,000 in consulting fees from Medtronic for the first nine months of 2005."

Needless to say, "All the doctors involved in the lawsuit who were reached for comment said that the payments to them were appropriate and fair compensation for work done for Medtronic."