The Washington Post and the WSJ Health Blog comment on the deadly effect of an experimental treatment for arthritis and the breach of guidelines for clinical trials:

“Two fundamental rules of clinical research were violated that day, experts said.

First, consent forms are to be taken home and considered, not signed on first

Second, when a patient’s own doctor is a principal investigator in a study, someone else is supposed to make the proposal.”

References:
Death Points to Risks in Research. Washington Post, 08/2007.
Hope Trumped Skepticism as Patient Mulled Study Risk. WSJ Health Blog, 08/2007.
Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Original post by Clinical Cases