After years of hard work, a cardiologist and researcher creates a new, more fl exible coronary artery stent that is easier to manipulate during cardiac catheterization. The initial response to this...

After years of hard work, a cardiologist and researcher creates a new, more fl exible coronary artery stent that is easier to manipulate during cardiac catheterization. The initial response to this invention is so positive that he decides to take a business partner. He begins a small company that manufactures and sells these stents. The physician knows that the interventional cardiologists at hospital A purchase and use his stents, while those at the hospital downtown, Hospital B, do not use his stents. He also knows that outcomes at the two hospitals are similar, although no data have yet emerged about which stent is better. What is the most appropriate way for this physician to approach cardiac catheterization for his private patients?

(A) He may refer patients to either hospital and does not need to disclose his economic interests in hospital A; the patients can ultimately decide to which hospital they want to go

(B) He may refer patients to either hospital but must inform them of his economic interests in hospital A

(C) He should refer patients only to hospital A so they may benefit from his superior technology

(D) He should refer patients only to hospital B so as not to take advantage of patients for his own economic benefit

(E) The physician should not be involved in commercial interests as long as he is involved in patient care in the same medical field