Will MA ban industry gifts to physicians?

Maybe -- from the Boston Globe article:

Senate President Therese Murray proposed today a broad measure to control healthcare costs by in part banning all gifts and freebies to doctors from drug companies, saying the perks have helped drive up costs for consumers.

If adopted, the legislation would make Massachusetts the first state in the country to place an outright ban on drug-industry gifts. Prohibited gifts would include any payments, entertainment, meals, travel, honoraria, subscriptions -- and even a pen bearing a drug company logo. Companies would be forbidden from offering the gifts and doctors, their families and employees would be forbidden from accepting them.

Under the proposal, anyone who violates the ban could be fined $5,000, face two years imprisonment or both.

Click here to access the BG article.