Doctors Cautioned to Avoid Investing in Florida Diet Company
For Immediate Release
February 11, 1999
Media Contact: Will Casserly
wcasserly@ricedelman.com
(703) 251-0110
Washington, D.C., February 11, 1999 -- Doctors should reject investing in a Florida company which offers physicians placement on its "Medical Advisory Board", stock in the company, and expense-paid travel to resort locations in Las Vegas and California, said WMAL 630 radio talk show host Ric Edelman.
Medical Research Industries, Inc., of Pompano Beach, FL, which uses the doctors' board membership in its efforts to market its homeopathic diet product, the Slim-Patch, and other health-related products, also lets physicians who join the board buy additional stock at a discount.
According to company documents obtained by Edelman and disclosed on his WMAL 630 radio show in Washington, D.C., "as of December 24, 1997, there were 858 members of the Medical Advisory Board." However, other company materials state that 1,600 doctors have joined the board.
"I do not endorse MRI's offer for two reasons," said Edelman, who is one of the nation's leading financial planners and chairman of Edelman Financial Services, Inc. of Fairfax, VA. "Buying shares of this company is a speculative investment opportunity," he said. "And I question the propriety of doctors possibly having to prescribe such a remedy to their patients, when the physicians have a fiduciary stake in the company. Doctors who do so, without disclosing their investments in MRI, may be engaging in questionable medical ethics."
The so-called "Stark Law," passed by Congress, prohibits a physician from referring Medicare patients to an entity for clinical laboratory services if the physician or his immediate family has a financial relationship with that entity. The American Medical Association's Code of Medical Ethics states, "When physicians refer patients to facilities in which they have an ownership interest, a potential conflict of interest exists."
"I do not object to physicians having a financial stake in the treatments they prescribe for patients," Edelman said. "I am concerned only if the physician fails to make proper disclosure to his or her patients." He called the company's marketing plan "unusual."
Edelman Financial Services Inc. is a full-service financial planning firm with almost $1 billion in client assets under management. The revised edition of Ric Edelman's best-selling book, "The Truth About Money", is now available in hardcover from HarperCollins. WMAL Radio is an ABC-owned station in Washington, D.C.
Rescue Your Money, written by award-winning financial advisor Ric Edelman, is your personal investment recovery plan.
