Saturday's issue of the Wall Street Journal reported on spinal surgeons who hold an ownership interest in a medical-device company whose products they use in surgery. According to the article, "...this is far from unique in the world of back surgery. Rather than use spinal implants from third-party manufacturers, scores of surgeons have started their own device makers to churn out similar designs, putting themselves in a position to benefit financially from the hardware they insert into patients. Critics of such arrangements say they give surgeons an incentive to do more operations, and that the conflict of interest has led to a spate of unnecessary back surgeries that waste health-care dollars and often do patients more harm than good." Some spinal surgeons quoted in the article say they are not influenced by their financial interests.

WSJ