Thousands of physicians who have been disciplined for serious misconduct, like having sex with patients, are still getting paid by pharmaceutical and medical device companies to act as advisers or promotional speakers, according to an analysis from ProPublica.

In one example, Kalamazoo, Michigan-based device maker Stryker Corporation paid San orthopedic surgeon Mohammad Diab, MD, more than $16,000 in consulting and travel fees, even though he had been suspended from practice for 60 days, required to seek psychological treatment and put on seven years’ probation by California’s medical board. Diab had been disciplined for a two-year sexual relationship with a patient and is still required to have a third party present while seeing female patients.

The company is one of 400 identified by ProPublica as paying more than 2,300 physicians who have been disciplined by state medical boards in California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Of those 2,300, at least 40 physicians had their licenses revoked or suspended.

"I think it’s crystal clear that their fiduciary duty is not to educate physicians and make public welfare better. It’s to sell a product,” said Charles Rosen, MD, co-founder of the Association for Medical Ethics. “I think they’d pay the devil if no one knows and he sells a lot.”

For more on ProPublica’s findings, click on the link below: