Ties Between Journal Editor and Company Explored

An article in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explores the way a medical journal has covered topics related to the business that provides millions in royalties to the journal's editor. According to the article, Thomas Zdeblick, a University of Wisconsin orthopedic surgeon, became editor in 2002 of The Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques. Since then, the article said, he has collected large royalties from Medtronic while the journal published a series of "positive" articles involving the company's products -- while readers were never informed of the editor's ties to the company. Zdeblick declined to comment for the article.