Doctors in Florida have received more than $56 million from a dozen pharmaceutical companies since 2009, according to data released Wednesday by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news organization.
Among those who were paid the most in Central Florida's five counties are Dr. Craig Curtis, an Orlando researcher who received $918,938 from three drug companies; Jane Hertz, a registered nurse in The Villages who was paid $111,295 by Eli Lilly; and Dr. Damon Tanton, an endocrinologist at Florida Hospital Celebration Health who earned $67,509 from Lilly.
While some payments, such as those that support research, are necessary, money paid to doctors to curry favor and encourage them to promote a company's medications crosses an ethical line, say industry watchdogs.
