(IANAL) it is my understanding that kickbacks from drug companies to doctors are pretty legal in US - or there is a very technical line between legal and illegal kickback in pharma/doctor relationship that regular people like us don't recognize it.

And don't get me wrong, i'm not against sending a bunch of pharma execs to a country club - i just think that so few of them are sent there that situation looks more like politically motivated selective enforcement of the law than full fledged justice.

It is OK for doctors to have financial relationships with companies, for example, to be a paid speaker or consultant. But I don't think those are "kickbacks", and there's a distinction between those relationships and what the Justice Dept. is prosecuting here

https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/

You don't think they often give out speaker roles as kickbacks? Speaking fees are often just bribes. Malcolm Gladwell isn't a doctor, but here's how it works in some cases (pushing amphetamines and tobacco): http://shameproject.com/profile/malcolm-gladwell-2/

It's a very subtle one, IMHO.

So subtle you might call it a "loophole".

:)

The Truth About the Drug Companies by Marcia Angell (Random House, 2004)

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200410073511522