Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13424

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Kruszewski SP, Paczynski RP, Marzana BIALY.
State Medical Board Responses To An Inquiry On Physician Researcher Misconduct
Journal of Medical Licensure and Discipline 2008; 94:(1):
http://web.archive.org/web/20090915182840/http://www.journalonline.org/index.cfm

Abstract:

Misconduct in clinical research jeopardizes the integrity of medical science. Physician researcher misconduct that produces flawed results has consequences, including the subsequent inability of other physicians who rely on erroneous data to provide informed consent and/or accurate assessment of pharmaceutical and medical device efficacy and safety. This deviation from acceptable medical practice can directly harm patients. How state medical boards address this clinical problem is uncertain. To examine this issue, we asked 51 U.S. medical boards to search their databases for disciplinary action in response to physician researcher misconduct (PRM) from 1996 thru early 2007. We compared their responses with data from federal agencies responsible for disciplinary actions against clinical researchers. Our results demonstrated: i) a high percentage (45 percent) of U.S. medical boards indicated that they did not have or could not provide access to data adequate to address whether or not disciplinary action for PRM had been levied in their states and ii) of respondents able to make relevant information available, we identified only 13 cases of physician disciplinary action for PRM. In contrast, several dozen examples of disciplinary action against physicians for serious clinical research misconduct could be readily documented in publicly accessible data from federal regulatory agencies.