Veith's Viewpoint: Extend and Fix the Sunshine Act, or End It

After all, just like medical practitioners and those in the health care industry, our federal officials -- and employees -- actions impact on the well-being of our society, and all these individuals in government are paid by the taxpayers.

So let's be fair and apply the same Sunshine Act reporting requirements to those in government to avoid corruption of their actions by unfair and opaque conflicts of interest.

Thus, the Sunshine Act should be fixed. More importantly ,the transparency of its requirements should be allowed to shine on Congress and other federal employees who are paid by the public to support its interests.

If these two corrective actions cannot be taken, the Sunshine Act should be done away with entirely.

Dr. Veith is Professor of Surgery at New York University Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic. He is an associate medical editor for Vascular Specialist. 

The ideas and opinions expressed in Vascular Specialist do not necessarily reflect those of the Society or Publisher.