Memory Hole (4 November): What happened this day

Scientific Misconduct Blog Memory Hole: Events of November 4th

19 years ago today: If you won't supply raw data we won't publish

This is about the status of raw data (Hat Tip - Al Higgins). On this day, 4 November 1988, the Editor of the journal Cell (Benjamin Lewin) stated that it is the policy of Cell that if authors are unwilling to share raw data, they should not publish (in Cell or presumably anywhere).

It is hard to know why anyone honest would disagree. Presumably we agree that a large part of the research published by the pharmaceutical industry should not be published either, and is not science in the conventional sense.

What made Lewin's statement odd was that Cell had published the infamous paper by Baltimore, et. al. in 1986. When asked by concerned scientists to supply the raw data, Baltimore et al., refused.

Bowledge, Tabitha M. "Getting Serious About Fraud and Misconduct," AAAS Observer, Science supplement (4 November 1988), pp. 1ff.

19 years ago today: The Phillip Berger case

On 4 November 1988 it was reported that a Stanford Inquiry had cast doubt on 11 papers. Very prominent scientist Phillip Berger was involved. He had resigned in May 1987.

Stanford had earlier been criticized for sham internal procedure, delay, secrecy and attempts to minimize the problem. More to follow.

"Stanford Inquiry Casts Doubt on 11 Papers," Science 242, 4 Nov 1988

9 years ago today: Chris Chapman died

On 4 November 1998 Dr Chris Chapman, a biochemist in Leeds (UK) died at age 56 after drawing attention to serious research fraud and financial misconduct at Leeds University. The persistent but failed internal attempts at whitewashing had taken their toll. He was also dismissed (one day before he could legally receive an employer's pension).
See: Earlier post

1 years ago today: Angry whistleblowing doctor fired

I have included this mainly for the quotation. On this day, 4 November 2006 a news report discussed the plight of "whistleblower" Dr Phillip O'Dowd who had dared to discuss financial fraud involving the CEO of a US hospital. He was fired. The CEO (Robert Urcuioli) was later convicted of fraud.

In the article O'Dowd relates that the cited reason for his firing was "anger-management problems". Asked whether he had anger issues, he said:

'I did have anger-management problems. I was very angry at the management.'

Earlier|Later|Main Page

Take good care of yourself - the health hazards of truthtelling

Feeling mistreated can hurt, especially when it comes to the heart (1).

An 11-year study of 8000 senior civil servants in London found that those who strongly agreed with the statement"I often have the feeling that I am being treated unfairly" had an increased risk of heart attack (hat tip pharmagossip ).

Out of the 567 people who agreed very strongly with this statement, 51 suffered a heart attack or severe chest pains, known as angina. By comparison, 64 out of the 966 people
who felt mild mistreatment had these heart problems. The results appear in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2,3.

There is growing evidence that despair can have all sorts of ill effects on the body (4, 5). Wrongly suspended and bullied doctors frequently suffer permanent ill health, and many have committed suicide or have experienced myocardial events (6, 7).

Doctors who have been suspended (often for whistleblowing) have a mortality rate of over 2%. This is higher than the mortality rate for open cardiac surgery and is entirely induced by employers. The mortality falls principally into two categories. (a) clinical depression ending in suicide and (b) myocardial infarction. Myocardial infarction is four times more common among suspended doctors than other doctors of the same age and sex. It has been recommended that affected individuals should take low dose asprin to reduce the risk of cardiac events (7).

This posting is dedicated to my pathology colleague, Dr Chris Chapman who died on 4/11/98 at the age of 56. Chris Chapman was a Principal Biochemist at Leeds General Infirmary working in conjunction with Leeds University, was made redundant after alleging corruption and fraud in the research being carried out. He was sacked the day before his 50th birthday to avoid paying him pension. He was re- instated following his legal victory. In a saga characterised by whitewash and obfuscation, inquiries were held to clarify the facts before a number of senior academics were given early retirement and replaced. However, this was too late for Chris.

See also

• Jean Lennane. The canary down the mine: what whistleblowers' health tells us about their environment [Link]
• Lennane K.J. "Whistleblowing": a health issue. British Medical Journal, 1993. 307: 667-670 [Link]
• Yamey G. Editorial: Protecting whistleblowers. Employers should respond to the message, not shoot the messenger BMJ 2000;320:70-71 [Link]

Earlier|Later|Main Page