Soros Examines Money in Medicine

The Open Society Institute will spend $15-million over three years to fight what the philanthropist George Soros sees as the corrupting influence of money in medicine, Mr. Soros announced last month.

A new grant-making program, called Medicine as a Profession, will bring together medical and consumer organizations to monitor and improve health care to insure that ethical considerations, not just financial ones, govern patient care. It also will teach young physicians how to advocate for their patients — particularly those who have few such resources.

“Money has never been so much in the forefront of medicine or potentially so powerful in determining medical decisions,” said Mr. Soros, the institute’s benefactor.

For more information, contact Julie McCrady, Program Officer, Medicine as a Profession, Open Society Institute, 400 West 59th Street, New York 10019; (212) 548-0312; or visit the program’s Web site at http://www.soros.org/usprograms/medicine.htm.