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Deals Without Details. The wonder was that Welch got away with so much for so long. He carefully told his superiors before making any deals, but never told—and was not asked—about the details. Many doctors disagreed with his puffs for new and more expensive drugs (prime example: Welch crusaded for combinations of two or more antibiotics in one costly capsule), but contented themselves with polite arguments on the professional level, sometimes in the very journals he edited and in which he gave himself plenty of space for rebuttal.
Last year, when Welch's superiors finally started asking questions, he told them that he got about $3,500 a year in "honorariums" from the journals. Believing his story, HEW Secretary Arthur S. Flemming merely ordered him to quit his editorships to avoid any conflict of interest. But at last week's hearing (Welch pleaded that he could not testify because of a heart condition), Flemming learned the fuller story from the subpoenaed records. Said Flemming: "It is clear that Dr. Welch deliberately misled his superiors." Though Welch had put in for retirement June 1 at the age of 57, Flemming angrily ordered him to resign now or face dismissal. He resigned.