How do you spell relief?

You may have missed this news story. It didn’t get much play in the mainstream press, but it’s got everything you want in a good potboiler: corruption, deception, greed, and a pharmaceutical company caught in the spotlight.

On Tuesday, ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman was disciplined by the network for making a radio commercial for Tylenol. Her punishment: a suspension of one week, without pay.

There’s so much going on here I hardly know where to begin.

Shucks, who knew it was wrong?

In early April, ABC was confronted by the New York Daily News with the information that a local radio station had run a Tylenol ad featuring Dr. Snyderman who has reported on health issues at ABC for ten years, primarily for the newsmagazine “20/20,” and for “Good Morning America” where she also sometimes fills in for the program’s anchors. When the news broke, Dr. Snyderman apologized and asked McNeil Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Tylenol, to stop running the advertisement.

ABC wouldn’t comment on Dr. Snyderman’s suspension this week. They say they don’t discuss personnel matters. Apparently they don’t discuss ethical matters either. But you can bet they were discussing the matters behind closed doors, and they must have been asking the same question that a senior news executive at a rival network asked when he heard the news, “What was she thinking?”

Dr. Snyderman is a seasoned media correspondent who’s been recognized with a number of broadcast journalism awards. She’s a board-certified surgeon of otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat) and a trained pediatrician with an established practice in San Francisco. She’s been a broadcaster and a doctor for a long time and she certainly knows the rules. What was she thinking? It’s transparent. She was thinking she’d get away with it.

Or it’s likely that she was just thinking on auto-pilot. Dr. Snyderman had to have known she was stepping across the ethical foul line. But like every physician, she’s probably spent so many years rubbing elbows with the drug companies that a little radio plug for Tylenol may have seemed like such a minor lapse that no one would call her on it. And that’s confirmed by her punishment. A week off without pay? It’s hard to imagine a lighter slap on the wrist. ABC seems to be saying, “Next time, don’t get caught.”

Medical commentary, bought and sold

Dr. Snyderman got caught this time because she has a high profile and because some hungry reporter at the New York Daily News happened to catch her performance on the radio. But that reporter is probably well aware that this is not an isolated incident. Every newspaper and local TV station in America has a “health” or a “medical” reporter who might enjoy a golf trip, or a consulting job, or a speaking engagement, all arranged and paid for by major pharmaceutical companies. We see this sort of thing happening all the time. And we see the results. When doctors and reporters and high-profile medical correspondents are wined and dined, and golfed and gifted by giant drug corporations, you don’t get the urgent research needed to show how natural remedies and supplements can be effective, and you don’t get unbiased reporting.

And even though most of us aren’t shocked to learn this is happening, we need to stay focused on it and be aware of who’s controlling the flow of information from so-called neutral sources. Again, this incident may seem harmless enough but it’s just the tip of the iceberg compared to the full scope of corruption and greed going on out there. It’s enough to make you reach for a large bottle of acetaminophen.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute

Copyright 1997-2002 by Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C.