In Reply Although I agree with Hamilton that focusing only on the negative angle of medical writing may create a distorted perception, history cannot be ignored. Writing in PLoS Medicine, Linda Logdberg1 illuminated her experience as a pharmaceutical company-sponsored medical writer. She asserted the following:
For almost 11 years, I worked as a medical writer, creating a variety of pieces including the occasional ghostwritten article.… Ghostwriting was a small, but real, part of my duties. I have seen published pieces that are virtually identical to the final drafts I submitted.… Each piece (‘‘job’’, in advertisingspeak) was born out of the publications planning strategy developed for a fee by the medical education (meded) company for the pharmaceutical corporation.