Current Headlines: Nonconsensual Experimentation in the News

Most of the selected articles this month deal with the ethics of clinical trials, especially controversial studies at the University of Cincinnati and the reporting practices of institutional review boards at Duke University. The Tuskegee Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care also opened.

Note: The stories these links refer to may not maintained on the sponsoring server for more than a few days. Consult the print copy for text.

May, 1999

General

• Risky Research: Duke Suspension Sheds Light on Bigger Problems by Jonathan Dube, ABCNews.com, May 12, 1999. Discusses problems with the current Institutional Review Board system.
• Report: Drug Trials Hiding Conflicts from Yahoo News; summarizes May 16 New York Times article by Kurt Eichenwald and Gina Kolata, "Drug Trials Hide Conflicts for Doctors," which describes conflicts of interest between pharmaceutical companies and doctors they pay for testing drugs.
• Studies elsewhere found sloppy in ethics standards and consent by Anne Michaud, The Cincinnati Inquirer, Monday, May 17, 1999. Discusses problems at Duke University, West Los Angeles VA Hospital, and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago.
• National commission finds rules too loose by Anne Michaud, The Cincinnati Inquirer, Monday, May 17, 1999. Describes the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's review of challenge studies
• Human Guinea Pigs: What you need to know before entering a clinical trial: You are not a patient, by Susan Brink, U.S. News and World Report, May 24, 1999. Cautions would-be volunteers to be aware of the differences between medical research and medical care.

University of Cincinnati discontinues challenge studies

• UC drops controversial psychoses tests: Critics contend studies unethical by Anne Michaud, The Cincinnati Inquirer, Thursday, May 6, 1999. University of Cincinnati discontinues "challenge studies," research that uses chemicals to induce psychosis.
• UC studies raise doubts about consent: Can delusional person recognize all the risks? by Anne Michaud and Tim Bonfield, The Cincinnati Inquirer, Sunday, May 9, 1999. Identifies four University of Cincinnati studies that are drawing criticism: "a 1998 bipolar disease study that recruited patients from the emergency room to test a new medication; a schizophrenia study from the early 1980s that involved giving patients drugs to trigger manic episodes; a sensitization study from 1997 that also used drugs to trigger psychotic behavior; and a continuing study of post-traumatic stress syndrome that involves giving patients spinal taps to look for chemical signs of the syndrome."
• UC called leader for ending controversial research by Anne Michaud and Tim Bonfield, The Cincinnati Inquirer, Monday, May 17, 1999. Varying reactions from researchers, patients, patients' rights activists, and others.

Lawsuit against University of Cincinnati for radiation experiments, 1960-1972

• Judge approves $5 million settlement in radiation case by John Nolan, Associated Press (on ABCNews.com). See also AP photo of Martha Stephens, who helped bring the studies to light in the 1960's (photo by Tom Ulhlman, from Yahoo news).

Duke University Medical Center ordered by Office of Protection from Research Risks to stop enrolling new subjects in federally funded experiments

• Duke Medical Center Acts to Strengthen Procedures for Human Subject Studies a response from the Duke University Medical Center News Office, written by Nancy Jensen, May 11, 1999.
  • Clinical Trials at Duke University Medical Center a background article to accompany the above article, by Karyn Hede, Duke Medical Center News Office, May 11, 1999
• Duke Medical Center ordered to stop adding patients to research tests from CNN Interactive, May 12, 1999.
• U.S. Halts Human Research at Duke by Rick Weiss, Washington Post, May 12, page A1.
• Feds Halt Duke Research: Experiments Involving Humans Suspended Associated Press report, from ABC News, May 12, 1999.
• Duke Research Ban Lifted: Programs Called Satisfactory Overall Associated Press report, from ABC News, May 14, 1999. "A ban on human research trials at Duke was lifted today when federal regulators were satisfied that safety measures would be taken."
• Duke's hazards: Did medical experiments put patients needlessly at risk? by Sheila Kaplan and Shannon Brownlee, U.S. News and World Report, May 24, 1999.

Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care

• Tuskegee Ethics Center Opens: The Town Where Infamous Medical Research Was Done, Associated Press, May 12, 1999, from ABCNews.com. "A bioethics center that will focus on black issues opens in Tuskegee, Alabama."
• U.S. center hopes to lay Tuskegee ghosts to rest, Reuters, May 12, 1999, from ABCNews, com.
• Tuskegee University Launches Nation's First African American Bioethics Center from Tuskegee University. See also Tuskegee University Press Release from Yahoo Business

Previous Headlines: April

These pages maintained by Steven Hale. Home Page     E-mail