• In an exclusive, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Washington Bureau has reported that us' top Medicare cost analyst has confirmed that his former boss ordered him to withhold, from lawmakers, unfavourable cost estimates about the Medicare prescription-drug bill. He said the estimates exceeded what the us Congress seemed willing to accept by more than us $100 billion. This revelation caused many congressmen to demand a fresh look at the bill, that George Bush signed into law December 8, 2003.

• The annual report of the Committee on Publishing Ethics details misdemeanours a group of medical journal editors grappled with in 2003. It details 29 cases, covering a wide range of unethical activity