In a little-noticed article over at The New York Times late last week, Benedict Carey noted how one of Columbia University’s premier research centers — the Kreitchman PET Center — had to halt all of its research studies because researchers were caught cutting corners. Not just once, but over and over again.
We’re not talking about flubbing up statistical data here. We’re talking about creating and administering improper, impure drugs to research participants. Drugs that may not only harm patients, but could even impact the researcher’s findings. (And researchers then wonder why it’s so hard to get research subjects…)
What is the Kreitchman PET Center? It is (or was) the nation’s leading research organization using positron emission tomography (PET) for psychiatric research. This is the cream of the crop when it comes to using PET scans in an effort to unlock the secrets of the brain to better understand it.
Worse yet, it wasn’t just a matter of researchers having lax quality control and not correcting it because they didn’t know about it — they knew about it and continued administering drugs in an unethical and unsafe manner to patients. Then they worked to cover up their behavior.
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HFS! Thank you for bringing this to out attention.
Will read Times story with interest.
Dr Grohol got it exactly right, its like he was there. The profit motive at Columbia matters more than anything else, even patient safety. The lab management would not fake results, unless they were told to by their boss, who was told be his boss to get results no matter what.
I agree with Lab Tech; there is no excuse for faking data, but the ultimate responsibility for it comes from upper management. You have to create a culture that encourages ethical behavior in a laboratory, just as you do in any company. People lower down on the food chain are NOT going to report unethical procedures if they feel that they might experience negative consequences for speaking up.
This story failed to go far enough. It did not include Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman to whom John Mann, the PET Center Director reported to. Jeffrey Lieberman is central to the ethical and fiscal abuses that are so clearly brought out in the New York Times article.Hopefully, there will be follow up stories.
Must agree that this is a direct result of the ethical and financial decay brought about by the current chair of psychiatry, Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman. It’s a shame that others will likely take the fall.
The executive vp of research at Columbia is David Hirsh. He is stepping down pending a successor as of July 9th. He reported directly to the president of the university.
Knowingly giving tainted radioactive agents to people with affective disorders is an ethical disgrace, illegal, and not the result of one person’s work. Oh and it violates the Nuremberg Convention.