In another study, Institutes of Medicine: HIV And Disability: Updating The Social Security Listings - "HIV infection as a disabling condition has evolved in fundamental ways since the [Social Security Administration] listings for HIV infection were last updated in 1993. . Many patients [now] respond well to treatment, but others, even in the era of potent HIV medications, fail to achieve control of HIV replication or are diagnosed in extremely late disease stages and have rapid progression or disabling complications," according to this report that offers the recommendations of a committee of HIV experts on how to best update the HIV Infection Listings.

Specifically, "the report calls for revisions to the HIV Infection Listings to incorporate assessments of a claimant's work-related functional capacity," according to the summary of this IOM report. "By updating the HIV Infection Listings to better reflect current clinical practice, SSA will be able to more accurately identify those people in need of Social Security disability benefits," the report concludes, according to the summary (9/13).

Journal of the American Medical Association: Effect of Reminders Of Personal Sacrifice And Suggested Rationalizations On Residents' Self-Reported Willingness To Accept Gifts - Doctors "feel comfortable accepting gifts from pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers that raise ethical concerns about conflicts of interest." Previous studies have looked at how physicians, even those who acknowledge the conflict of interest, have rationalized the practice. "The perception of hardships may contribute to physician acceptance of gifts from the pharmaceutical industry," according to this study of roughly 300 U.S. resident physicians in pediatrics and family medicine, who participated in one of three online surveys "evaluating quality of life and values."

"Reminding physicians of sacrifices made in obtaining their education resulted in gifts being evaluated as more acceptable: 21.7% (13/60) in the control group vs. 47.5% (57/120) in the sacrifice reminders group." The authors write, "Even though few residents reported that their working conditions were bad, reminding them about sacrifices to obtain their medical education significantly increased their readiness to receive gifts. Providing a suggested rationalization that low salaries and education-related debt could potentially justify accepting gifts increased the acceptability of industry-sponsored gifts beyond the effect of simple sacrifice reminders" (Sah and Loewenstein, 9/15).

The study was published in a theme issue of the journal focused on medical education (9/15).

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