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Doctors lack whistle-blower protection

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, December 30, 2004

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A judge recently ruled that thousands of federal doctors and medical researchers who receive some of the highest salaries in government do not have the same protections for blowing the whistle on wrongdoing as other civil servants, according to the Associated Press.

This came to light when Administrative Judge Raphael Ben-Ami of the US Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that Jonathan Fishbein, a National Institute of Health (NIH) specialist, couldn't seek the board's protection from firing under the Whistleblower Protection Act.

Fishbein, who was hired in 2003 to improve AIDS research practices for NIH, alleges he was fired because he uncovered concerns about sloppy research practices that could be a risk to patient safety. NIH said Fishbein was fired for poor performance.

Fishbein and several other NIH employees raised concerns in 2002 about a study in Africa involving nevirapine, an AIDS drug. Documents uncovered record-keeping and patient monitoring problems and showed that research methodology violated federal patient-safety rules. Even though the study's conclusion-that the drug could be used safely in single doses to protect babies from HIV-was upheld.

"This is a major setback for drug safety," said Kris Kolesnik, executive director for the National Whistleblower Center. "Many of these employees, such as Dr. Fishbein, hold sensitive health and safety posts. Without protections, these employees will not blow the whistle."

To read the Associated Press article published by the Boston Globe, click here.

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