Link to video on KMSP-TV

KMSP has recently called attention to the scandal and tragedy of the Markingson case in which a young man committed suicide while enrolled in a clinical trial at the University of Minnesota. The position of the university is that nothing wrong has been done by the U, the matter has been thoroughly investigated, nothing to see here. Move along.

If you have some time and have not already seen it, I'd urge readers to click the link above and have a look at the KMSP video.

Of course the university immediately tried to brush the matter off. As a recent post in MinnPost put it:

This is of course standard operating procedure by now at the U. What exactly were the inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims? These blanket denials are insufficient given the evidence in the record.

One of the claims that the U has used many times is that sufficient investigation has already done that has exonerated the U of M. This claim has been demolished by Professor Trudo Lemmens, a faculty member in the law school at the University of Toronto. In an excellent summary Professor Lemmens has taken each of the proceedings the U claims has exonerated them and illustrates why this is not the case. I strongly recommend that anyone with an interest have a look at this summary on ScribD. (Unfortunately because of the way it is formatted and the length, it would be difficult to summarize here.)

I've posted before on the Markingson case at the University of Minnesota. See for example:

May 20, 2013: The Markingson Case: A Tragedy But Not A Scandal?

June 5, 2013: Response to University of Minnesota President's Letter

Send in the wackos...

From KMSP news:

And for a supposed senior director of communications at the U to make the statement:

"I looked her up and can't tell if she's a wacko or not..."

is both outrageous and incompetent. It takes a simple Google search to discover that not only does Dr. Stone have experience in clinical trials, she has also written a highly regarded book on that topic that is rated at 4.8/5 stars on Amazon. I will not further embarrass the director of communications by quoting from the many laudatory reviews of this well regarded book on clinical trials.

So the other pernicious and disturbing aspect of this case is the implication that anyone who would pay attention to Carl Elliot is a wacko. This is outrageous.

So 3,413 people who signed a petition for an independent investigation of the matter are wackos? Including practicing psychiatrists, medical ethicists, medical journal editors, U of M alumni, and citizens of the state?

170 scholars recently requested, in a letter to the U of M faculty senate, that they call for an independent investigation of the matter. These people are all wackos?

A link to the institutional affiliations of the 170 scholars may be found here. The qualifications of some of the petitioners may be found here. To dismiss the opinion of these people because they "pay attention to Carl" beggars belief.

As the highly regarded psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Mickey Nardo put it:

What EXACTLY is it going to take for my university to step forward, take responsibility, and see that things like this don't happen again?

I am not #umnproud. I am #umn ashamed, sorry to say.

William B. Gleason
University of Minnesota faculty and alum

[It isn't the wackos that are the problem here, it's the clowns.]