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Medical Madoff: Data Faked in 21 Studies

by nukegingrich | March 10, 2009 at 06:31 pm

759 views | 50 Recommendations | 4 comments

Over the past 12 years, anesthesiologist Scott Reuben revolutionized the way physicians provide pain relief to patients undergoing orthopedic surgery for everything from torn ligaments to worn-out hips. Now, the profession is in shambles after an investigation revealed that at least 21 of Reuben's papers were pure fiction, and that the pain drugs he touted in them may have slowed postoperative healing.

"We are talking about millions of patients worldwide, where postoperative pain management has been affected by the research findings of Dr. Reuben," says Steven Shafer, editor in chief of the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia, which published 10 of Reuben's fraudulent papers.

The fraudulent data resulted in the sale of billions of dollars of COX2 inhibitors, including Vioxx, and Celebrex. Anesthesia & Analgesia editors say in hindsight, "it should have been a "red flag" that Reuben's studies were consistently favorable to the drugs he studied."

It seems to be a sign of the times that red flags have been continuously ignored for years in many fields of commerce.

More:

Former Member Of Pfizer Speaker Bureau Accused Of Research Fraud
"A former member of Pfizer Inc.'s speakers' bureau who helped pioneer new pain treatments that combined two of the company's major products has been accused of perpetrating one of the biggest research frauds in medical history.

Dr. Scott S. Reuben, an anesthesiologist on the staff at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., is currently on medical leave and has been stripped of any research or educational duties for at least 10 years, according to a story first reported in Anesthesiology News."

NYT: Doctor admits pain studies were frauds

"In what may be among the longest-running and widest-ranging cases of academic fraud, one of the most prolific researchers in anesthesiology has admitted that he fabricated much of the data underlying his research, said a spokeswoman for the hospital where he works."

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Amy Judd

at 18:51 on March 10th, 2009

This is awful - imagine if he was your doctor!

Uwe Paschen

at 18:58 on March 10th, 2009

Speechless yet not surprised either it has been the culture of profits over ethics that has breed this sort of behaviour.

Benice

at 21:19 on March 10th, 2009

I can't believed that this Physician whose mission is to save others moral fiber to commit this.

kuuva

at 01:37 on March 11th, 2009

my god this is bad. COX2 put millions at elevated risk for heart attacks, this class of drugs was widely prescribed. Merck had 190 class action brought against it because of vioxx. Plus it may have slowed healing in all of those cases. This doctor should have ALL of his assets immediately seized and he should be thrown in prison. sorry this is totally unacceptable.

"We are talking about millions of patients worldwide"