[Update: The petition mentioned in this post has now been signed by more than 1,000 people including three former editors of the New England Journal of Medicine. An article has also appeared in the Star-Tribune that gives the University of Minnesota's response to the most recent developments. Please see comments on the article.]
From my friend Mike Howard:
"In November 2003, psychiatrists at the University of Minnesota used the threat of involuntary commitment to force a mentally ill young man named Dan Markingson into a very profitable, industry-funded study of antipsychotic drugs. Dan was enrolled in the study over the objections of his mother, Mary Weiss. For months Mary tried desperately to get him out of the study, warning the psychiatrists that Dan's condition was deteriorating and that he was in danger of killing himself. The psychiatrists refused to listen to her. On May 8, 2004, Dan committed suicide, and Mary lost her only child."
As of this writing nearly six hundred people have signed a petition to Governor Dayton, including 70 scholars in bioethics/health law/medical humanities. The group includes a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The petition calls for an outside investigation without involvement of the University of Minnesota, especially its General Counsel who suffers from a severe conflict of interest.
Many of the signatories have left comments indicating their reasons for signing the petition, many of them having been trained at the University of Minnesota. For example:
________ Unfortunately there is a lot more where these comments came from. See link above. I ask that readers seriously consider signing the petition to the Governor which may be found at: change.org (Markingson Petition)
