Research Fraud Probe Leads to Criminal Charge

Research Fraud Probe Leads to Criminal Charge

www.medpagetoday.com

According to the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston, Pfizer had given some $74,000 to Reuben for a placebo-controlled study of celecoxib (Celebrex) as part of a "multimodal" painkiller regimen for outpatient knee ligament surgery. The study was to enroll 100 patients.

Reuben subsequently reported to Pfizer and in the journal article that 200 patients entered the trial and that the celecoxib regimen was effective.

"In fact, Reuben had not enrolled any patients into that study, and the results reported both to Pfizer and to Anesthesia & Analgesia and, in turn, to the public were wholly m

(visit the link for the full news article)

There has been a lot of talk on ATS about how much we should trust doctors who in turn trust corporations like Pfizer to provide effective treatments for their patients. I believe that trust is over-rated. While doctors are experts about these things compared to the rest of us, ultimately only we can determine for ourselves whether the pills they give us are improving our conditions more than a placebo.

Its not any more appropriate to tell someone that they should be taking a medication than they shouldn't be taking it. Its up to them to figure out whether it is working, and figure out the pros and cons. The only exception is if they are taking a behavioral medication and have harmed another person... only then is it acceptable to order someone to take a medication.

Clearly these corporations should be using both internal and external studies and if the results are not similar they should question whether the other studies may be fraudulent.

www.medpagetoday.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

From link in OP:

quote:

Scott Reuben, MD, a well-known pain researcher at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., was charged with one count of healthcare fraud.

Early last year, the hospital announced that an internal audit had revealed that Reuben had made up research data out of whole cloth, affecting at least 21 published studies over a 15-year period.

Imo, this piece of excreta should be jailed for a minimum of 25 years, no parole (hard labour if possible -- would be the first bit of work he's done in at least 15 years, based on the article)

Alternatively, he could opt to have his knees and organs smashed repeatedly -- to be administered placebos perhaps once a week for 'pain relief'