Here's an interesting article on a heart-op whistleblower, who rattled the cage of NMT Medical,

[Joe Chi Minh]

and is being used by them for libel.

Dr Richard Smith, a former editor of the British Medical Journal, describes Dr Wilmshurst as perhaps British medicine's champion whistleblower.

http://www.healthwatch-uk.org/

[Celebration]

1. thanks.

After reading this, how can anyone wonder if Dr. Wilmshurst is telling the truth? Who would wish this on themselves?

[Why Syzygy]

2. It made me wonder why

there's no protection against claims of liability, or at the very least *insurance*. I'd like to see how this turns out.

[trotsky]

3. Intriguing case - but it kind of runs the opposite of the prevailing view, doesn't it?

Popular story goes: Big pharma company wants to push through unnecessary treatment, whistleblower tries to stop them, whistleblower silenced (or bought off, of course).

This story: Pharma device company works with researcher to see if their device can stop migraines. Studies seem to indicate it does not. Pharma device company gives up, researcher insists it will work, that the study was flawed. Why would the corporation NOT want the study to work? They'd make far more money if they got to implant their device not only in their traditional patients but also migraine sufferers.

[Celebration]

4. a little hard to follow this story, BUT

But he couldn't see all the data, because he wasn't allowed to see it, and therefore he wasn't listed as an author.

This could be what the company is worried about (I mean, why would they be pursuing this case--ordinarily it would make no sense)

Further investigation could have determined whether residual shunting was in fact a problem with STARFlex, he told her, but he had not been allowed access to the full data set. If it was a problem, he said, "that information needs to be in the public domain" and would have "much larger implications for STARFlex, a device already marketed in Europe for the treatment of cryptogenic stroke."

It's a little suspicious to me. Did the company hide information from the researchers that could have had implications for their product in other applications? I'm not saying that they did, but I would say the whole thing doesn't exactly pass the smell test.