2 neurosurgeons banned from human research after allegedly experimenting on people without permission

Dealing with human subject in biomedical research is tricky, as the patient is to be the focus of the physicians, not the research. To guarantee that patients are no taken advantage off, any researcher who proposes to work with human subjects, has to go obtain consent forms and go through the IRB (Internal Review Board). Failing to do either or both is unacceptable.

Prof. Dr. J. Paul Muizelaar, a MD PhD trained at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and his co-worker for 13 years, Dr. Rudolph J. Schrot, did not obtain consent-form in three casses as reported in the SacBee:

• Patient No. 1 died six weeks later after the tumor progressed. The university later determined that the patient also had developed sepsis, a life-threatening illness in which the body responds severely to bacteria or germs.

• Patient No. 2, who also underwent the procedure in 2010, was still alive when Lewin wrote his October 2011 report to the FDA. The patient was described as having a reduction in the brain tumor but also suffered a wound infection and was given antibiotics 10 months after being intentionally infected. Muizelaar noted last week that the patient has since died.

• Patient No. 3, who underwent surgery in 2011, soon developed sepsis and meningitis and died.

To read the entire SacBee story, click here.

It also seems that some Dutch researcher are lapsing in scientific conduct, as the recent cases of Prof. Dr. Don Poldermans and Prof. Dr. Diederik Stapel exemplify. As it looks now, we can add the name of Paul Muizelaar to the list. Is the pressure to do high-impact research on short term grants (and thus frequently publish in high-impact journals) getting the better of some researchers?

Edit: For addition information read Jonathan Eisen’s blog here.

About these ads