Four top doctors arrested over illegal human experimentation

[Guest guest]

It is not just the " foster kids " at great risk; we are warehousing our

parents and grandparents, and they make easy marks.

 

If you have a relative in a nursing home, I encourage you to drop in on

them--- you'll likely find them in a group at the door waiting, which is

the last place they remember a friendly face. Take a handful of

" Snickers " --- see if pets are allowed--a half hour of your time may be

worth a month of happiness--- pretty good return, especially when you

consider that still there are some --but were more-- cultures on Planet

Earth that worship ancestors.

 

---if you are fortunate enough to not have a " warehoused " relative--one

of your friends does--ask around.

 

 

 

" Mudville " Rose

 

 

 

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)

Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability

http://www.ahrp.org <http://www.ahrp.org/>

 

FYI

 

The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reports that four senior Israeli doctors

accused of conducting illegal medical experiments without informed

consent

on elderly patients-many with dementia-were arrested. The details of the

State Comptroller's Office report findings-which severely criticized the

hospitals involved were disclosed to the public by an investigative

series

in Haaretz, as well as a TV investigative series " Fact. "

 

According to a investigative report issued by the Israeli Health

Ministry,

the doctors " conducted illegal and unethical testing on thousands of

elderly

patients for years. During one of the incidents described, twelve

patients

died either during the experiments or shortly after they took place, but

these incidents were not reported to the Health Ministry or

investigated, as

is required by law. "

 

Haaretz (below) implicitly suggests that this case raises far wider

implications:

" some doctors received promotions, both in their professional and

academic

careers, on the basis of the illegal tests. In some cases, the tests

were

used as the basis for research studies published in local and

international

medical journals. At least four doctors at the hospitals were named as

experts in Geriatrics based on the illegal tests they allegedly

conducted

along with their colleagues. "

 

If " expertise " rests on illegal / unethical research such expertise

rests on

fraud.

The question the public might ask is: What, if any, ethical standards

can we

legitimately insist that medical researchers follow?

 

If research reports about human trials are accepted for publication in

peer

reviewed science journals-and those trials were unethically

conducted-the

journals lose their legitimacy as arbiters of science. Editors of

prestigious American and British journals acknowledge that tainted

journal

reports have seriously undermined the very integrity of medicine.

http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv?request=get-document & doi=10.13\

71/j

<http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv?request=get-document & doi=10.1\

371/j>

ournal.pmed.0020138

 

Following an internal inquiry, the Israeli Health Ministry's actions

contrast sharply with oversight agencies in the UK and the US. The

Health

Ministry's director general " filed a complaint with the police and

harshly

criticized the hospital Helsinki [ethics] committee for its failure to

protect the patients' best interest. And the National Fraud Squad

confiscated from the hospitals many documents pertaining to the

experimentation. "

 

In sharp contrast, following the catastrophic monoclonal antibody

experiment

(TGN1412) that all but killed ALL six healthy volunteers because safety

precautions were not taken, the UK Medicines & Healthcare products

Agency

(MHRA) attempted to sweep the systemic and specific violations under the

carpet. The MHRA announced its investigation: " has found no evidence to

suggest that there was any problem with the manufacturing of the

product....Neither have we found anything in the way the trial was run

which

contributed to the adverse reactions experienced by the volunteers... "

 

Haaretz reports: " The Health Ministry's director general filed a

complaint

with police following an internal inquiry into the affair and the fraud

squad confiscated from the hospitals many documents pertaining to the

experimentation.

 

One is reminded of how South Korea dealt with research fraud in the case

involving a prominent scientist, Hwang Woo-Suk, who was exposed for

falsifying cloning data. In that case, both the University of S K and

the

government acted swiftly-the scientist was publicly humiliated and he

apologized. His American colleagues suffered no such consequences. In

the

US, Canada, and the UK research fraud is not only tolerated,

Universities-even the National Institute of Health-punish the

whistleblowers

rather than the perpetrators.

 

What lesson can be learned from the fact that small countries-such as

South

Korea and Israel-take action against those who are found to have engaged

in

research misconduct and violated ethical standards, whereas the major

research centers and government oversight agencies in the US and the UK

are

prepared to sweep aside evidence of ethical violations. The FDA

accommodates researchers who want to test experimental products on

incapacitated human subjects without having to obtain informed consent

by

issuing an exemption rule. www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/357/28

 

 

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav

212-595-8974

veracare

<http://health.SSRI-Research/post?postID=hbbduCBp\

jwgqdCbcCX6cP6LDnRbsOxOB9U7qZcb5vuneJPnrfmMlbp2F4aCTpGeAJUTt5XYMJyh5>

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

 

www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/772409.html

 

Four top doctors arrested over illegal human experimentation

By Ran Reznik, Haaretz Correspondent

 

Four senior doctors at Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot and Hartzfeld

Geriatric

Hospital in Gedera suspected of illegally experimenting on humans were

arrested Monday.

 

The national fraud squad has opened an investigation into the affair.

The

four are suspected of abuse, aggravated assault, causing death through

negligence, fraud, forgery, breach of statutory duty, and disruption of

legal proceedings.

 

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Monday extended by three days the

remands

of Kaplan-Hartzfeld deputy director Dr. Shmuel Levi and Dr. Nadia

Kagensky.

The third suspect, Dr. Alona Smirnov, was released to house arrest for

five

days, and the fourth suspect was released following an investigation.

 

Police searched the houses of all four suspects and confiscated

incriminating documents.

 

Many of the details of the affair were revealed in a series of Haaretz

articles on the subject, as well as Channel 2 TV's investigative

documentary

series " Fact. "

 

In May 2005, the State Comptroller's Office slammed the hospitals over

the

illegal experimentation in a report.

 

According to a report issued by the investigations department of the

Health

Ministry and exposed by Haaretz, the hospitals in Gedera and Rehovot

conducted illegal and unethical testing on thousands of elderly patients

for

years.

 

During one of the incidents described, twelve patients died either

during

the experiments or shortly after they took place, but these incidents

were

not reported to the Health Ministry or investigated, as is required by

law.

 

The Health Ministry's director general filed a complaint with police

following an internal inquiry into the affair and the fraud squad

confiscated from the hospitals many documents pertaining to the

experimentation.

 

The ministry's investigation revealed that some of the patients were

included in the experiments without providing their consent, while some

of

them suffered from severe mental damage, which prevented them from being

legally capable of providing consent.

 

According to the report, some of the tests did not even yield any

medically

or scientifically beneficial results. Furthermore, some of the

experiments

were conducted despite top doctors' warnings that they were illegal or

unethical.

 

The report voices harsh criticism of the Helsinki committee at the

hospitals, responsible for approving the experiments and failing to

protect

the public's best interests.

 

The ministry's report further condemns the hospital's management for

failing

to address the complaints and information handed to it over the past few

years, describing the flawed medical procedures.

 

According to the report, some doctors received promotions, both in their

professional and academic careers, on the basis of the illegal tests. In

some cases, the tests were used as the basis for research studies

published

in local and international medical journals.

 

At least four doctors at the hospitals were named as experts in

Geriatrics

based on the illegal tests they allegedly conducted along with their

colleagues.