The German government plans a law to tackle illegal deals between doctors and pharmaceutical companies. Anti-corruption groups say the law doesn't go far enough, but doctors' associations hardly consider it necessary. . . . .

"Doctors write prescriptions worth 100 billion euros a year," said Wolfgang Wodarg, head of the health services anti-corruption working group at Transparency International Germany and a doctor himself. "So they have the power to decide with their pens what happens to public money, both taxes and that of public health insurers. And, if they are influenced by people who want that money - that is if they are corrupted - then it creates huge damage, not just financial but also for the patients, who are prescribed things they don't need."

http://www.dw.com/en/germany-clamps-down-on-corruption-in-health-sector/a-18616765