Is Medicine in the same boat as the Catholic Church?

This post has nothing directly to do with scientific fraud, science or medicine.

It is about recent reports of corruption and terrible evils that have taken place within the confines of the leadership of the Catholic Church.

A few days ago a long-delayed investigation into Ireland’s Roman Catholic-run institutions was released. It chronicled how priests and nuns molested, abused and tortured thousands of boys and girls for decades. More importantly it documented how those in authority, government officials, and government inspectors failed to stop the beatings, rapes and abuse. The report concludes that church officials shielded their orders' pedophiles from arrest, amid a culture of self-serving secrecy. They turned a blind eye.

In the United Kingdom, we have medical "regulatory" bodies (such as the MHRA and the General Medical Council). We have individuals promoted to positions of professional leadership. These bodies and individuals are supposed to act as guardians of scientific and clinical integrity in medicine. They are supposed to protect the public against quackery, and to uphold the scientific ideals of our profession. Like the corrupt bodies within the Church, these institutions don't always fulfill their stated mission. Too often they act act as protectors of those who are guilty of scientific fraud, of abusing patients and of corruption. Particular individuals within those bodies act to conceal crimes and deception. Rules of conduct are meticulously created and revised, but disobeyed with impunity. The supposed mission of these organisations and the reputation of our profession is brought into disrepute through these actions.

These organisations hide their sins behind a barrrier of secrecy. Names and transparency are important however. The Christian Brothers successfully sued the commission in 2004 to keep the identities of all of its members unnamed in the report resulting in massive backfire and complete loss of any residual reputation. In medicine, bodies such as the General Medical Council demonstrate the same staggering incompetence when they try to get involved in tricky little exercises to protect their friends. Those, like the hilarious exercise to try to hide the scientific adventures of their friend Professor Richard Eastell and his "collaborations" with Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals tend to result in a similar outcome for the profession of medicine.

Read the full report of the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse report here, or a summary (Associated Press).

The corruption was articulated even more strongly in Milwaukee this week. It is said that retired Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland states that he "did not comprehend" the potential harm to victims in Milwaukee, nor did he understand that what the priests had done constituted a crime (see here and here)

Said Weakland:

"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."

I "accepted naively the common view that it was not necessary to worry about the effects on the youngsters: either they would not remember or they would ‘grow out of it’."

Weakland stands accused of assisting in cover-up of the abuse. A 2003 report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee revealed that allegations of sexual assaults on minors had been made against 58 ordained men, who were under the direct supervision of the Archbishop of Milwaukee. By early 2009, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee had spent approximately $26.5 million in attorney fees and settlements to victims. Weakland retired in 2002 after it became known that he paid $450,000 to a man who had accused him of date rape.

Why are these men and women not in prison?

See also:

1. Cargo Cult Science : Large Groups of Humans
2. Video Documentary : Deliver us from Evil
3. The Freethinker: ‘We did not know that child abuse was a crime,’ says retired Catholic archbishop
4. Report of the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse in Ireland

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A Day of Shame for Science in the United Kingdom

This is the report of the so called "criminal" investigation of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) by the UK Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA). It concerns fakery and misrepresentations of science involving the drug Seroxat/Paxil. Given the close links between the MHRA and GSK this can hardly be regarded as an independent or relevant investigation.

Nevertheless, the MHRA could hardly avoid acknowledging many of the scientific manipulations that took place within their report. Many others are not discussed. These include the apparent "recoding" of clinical records in randomized trials, and the counting of events in the washout phase of trials as events on placebo. There seems very little doubt as to what happened, and the fakery is not denied.

Many children and adults are likely to have died as a result of this fakery.

The upshot of this report is that scientific misconduct is acceptable in the United Kingdom. It is acceptable for doctors and patients to be misled.

The problem is that the MHRA is only concerned about information supplied to themselves by GSK. They are not concerned about the veracity and numeric accuracy of the information supplied by themselves to the public and to doctors. They regard the provision of false or incomplete information to themselves as legal so long as that information does not directly concern licensing. They ignore the fact that doctors and patients make decisions based on information in the scientific literature, and that this literature may be faked. They ignore the fact that they themselves rely on the "peer reviewed" scientific literature to make decisions. Despite this, the MHRA have previously declared that they have no remit to be concerned about the integrity of the scientific literature involving drugs, except where it is related to a licensing procedure. They maintain that the scientific literature is "exploratory" and that fraud in this literature is therefore not relevant.

It took the MHRA four years of "investigating" to reaffirm that fakery involving drugs no longer matters.

It is time for the honest members of the medical profession to say that they disagree.
This is a day of shame for science in this country, for our profession, and for the supine leadership of our profession.

No amount of legal tweaking over issues of data-supply to regulators is going to solve this problem. There are no right answers to the wrong questions.

The government might start by reassessing their failure to respond properly to the issues raised by the Commons select committee report of 2004/5. They might start by examining their refusal to address any of the critical issues raised by that report. They might make a clear statement that honest science matters. They might make it clear that in this country we expect the usual rules of science to be obeyed, and that raw and complete data should be made available both to regulators, authors of scientific publications and to concerned scientists. They might admit that the regulator has failed to scrutinize or retain actual raw data in the past, and has simply accepted the summary claims of industry with blind faith. They might think a little about the conclusions of the select committee concerning the honesty, integrity and independence of the MHRA. They might stop their cozy meetings with industry CEO's.

It was also most unusual that Gordon Brown should have invited the CEO of a company undergoing criminal investigation over the deaths of vulnerable patients to join his International Business Advisory Council.

No, I tell you. No, sir. Corruption charges! Corruption? Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations......We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.
(From the Movie Syriana)

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Christmas gifts for the MHRA and GMC

Quite liked this cover. A new book by John O'Farrell. Gifts for my totally non-corrupted friends at the MHRA (the UK drug regulator) and my totally non-corrupted and non-racist and honest friends at the General Medical Council. All as pure as the driven slush. Merry Christmas to all.

Synopsis
Here at last is a chance to have a good laugh and learn all that stuff you feel you really ought to know by now...you can read how Anglo-Saxon liberals struggled to be positive about immigration; 'Look I think we have to try and respect the religious customs of our new Viking friends - oi, he's nicked my bloody ox!' Discover how England's peculiar class system was established by some snobby French nobles whose posh descendants still have wine cellars and second homes in the Dordogne today. And explore the complex socio-economic reasons why Britain's kings were the first in Europe to be brought to heel; (because the Stuarts were such a useless bunch of untalented, incompetent, arrogant, upper-class thickoes that Parliament didn't have much choice.) A book about then that is also incisive and illuminating about now, "2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge" is an informative and cantankerous journey through Britain' fascinating and bizarre history. It is as entertaining as a witch burning, and a lot more laughs. Even more laughs than GlaxoSmithKline's study 329 and all those children who died.

Perhaps a copy too for the UK Panel for Research "integrity". I recall an immensely productive and useful meeting with them exactly a year ago.

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