About the Authors

Joel Lexchin

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft

jlexchin@yorku.ca

Affiliations School of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Emergency Department, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Competing Interests

In 2016-2019, Joel Lexchin was a paid consultant on two projects: one looking at developing principles for conservative diagnosis (Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation) and a second deciding what drugs should be provided free of charge by general practitioners (Government of Canada, Ontario Supporting Patient Oriented Research Support Unit and the St Michael’s Hospital Foundation). He also received payment for being on a panel at the American Diabetes Association, for a talks at the Toronto Reference Library, for writing a brief in an action for side effects of a drug for Michael F. Smith, Lawyer and a second brief on the role of promotion in generating prescriptions for Goodmans LLP and from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for presenting at a workshop on conflict-of-interest in clinical practice guidelines. He is currently a member of research groups that are receiving money from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. He is member of the Foundation Board of Health Action International and the Board of Canadian Doctors for Medicare. He receives royalties from University of Toronto Press and James Lorimer & Co. Ltd. for books he has written. This does not alter my adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no restrictions on sharing data.