The Star Chamber

A Norwegian woman went on holiday (officially) to the Dominican Republic, after having taken out a full insurance policy. When she returned, she presented a bill of NKR 23.500 (4000 US $) for an operation "for an ovarian cyst".

For some reason or other, the insurance company phoned the doctor in Santo Domingo; and the doctor told them that the operation he had done on the woman was no ovarian cystectomy, it was silicon implants in both breasts.

So now the woman will be able to show off her new tits in the courtroom presently, I wonder what her excuse will be -- that her previous breasts sagged down to the level of her ovaries?

This kind of insurance fraud is getting to be quite popular; a number of laser treatments for myopia in Turkey has been masked as treatment for acute ophthalmological diseases and so on.

There is a crook born every minute.

It was to be expected. First the Lancet, and now NEJM. It is revealed today that NEJM is also cautioning its readers about two of the Great Norwegian Fraud's (GNR) publications.

The NEJM writes:

In the issue of April 26, 2001, we published a study by Sudbø et al.1 Figure 3B and Figure 3C of that article, which purport to represent two different patients and stages of oral epithelial dysplasia, are in fact different magnifications of the same photomicrograph. Because the results of another study by Dr. Sudbø ,2 published in the issue of April 1, 2004, were derived from the same subjects followed through the same database, we have similar concerns. We have informed the director of Dr. Sudbø's institution, the Radiumhospitalet in Oslo, Norway, and await the results of his investigation.

One must assume that something has gone very wrong with the peer reviewing process here (No, I have not been rejected by NEJM - nor accepted btw). I have seen the two photographs, and it is a very clumsy attempt that even a non-pathologist could have caught.

At the same time, the police are rattling their sabres as well. As one high-ranking official states;

- If a researcher applies for economical support to a project, and at the time of this application already has decided to base it on fabricated data, he can be said to have enticed those who donate the economical support. In that case this is fraud, punishable by the criminal code.

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

According to this, the stunned silence that followed the fall of the heavy-weight researcher (see previous posts) has now given place to the more usual cries for economic compensation.

Fortunately (for him), he has cheated also in claiming funding. The two major Norwegian "contributors" to his research (as cited in his article) have now proclaimed that they never gave him a krone. This leaves the millions to have come from the US, maybe they will evaporate as well? Or maybe our hero has engaged in the well-known scam of using the large institutions' trend towards herd behavior ("If THEY gave you money, surely WE must give you too").

What is more worrisome though, is the way the media now is wallowing in the behavior of an obviously mentally disturbed person. His behavior is reprehensible, yes, but it does not carry the death penalty. It is time to forget and forgive this misguided individual who for a moment strayed from the straight and narrow path after a lifetime of public service. Scientific fraud is not as dangerous as other kinds of fraud, as the system of science guarantees that it will be corrected sooner or later by other researchers. Any researcher will publish his "material and methods" section in order to allow others to try to replicate his results. If they can't do that, gradually the original results will be forgotten.

So this is merely a footnote in history, no-one has been hurt, maimed or killed, the only institution who has lost anything is the American Cancer Institute losing money (and they obviously can afford it) and the Lancet (losing prestige, of which they also have too much).

My suggestion to the journalists, the Board of Health and the other sharks out there: Leave this man alone now. Let up the persecution. I know you can't be humane, but could you at least try to simulate humanity?

This story just hit the press: One of the senior oncological resarchers of Norway has been exposed, having manipulated data and published fraudulent research. No names public yet.

Before you start to yawn; yes, research fraud is as common as research grants, but in this case: If this guy is who I suspect he is, he is one of the Board of Health's trained lap-dogs, always ready to bite any doctor who actually practices cancer therapy if the Board of Health sics him on them. And if that is the case, yes, then it's time to bring forward the champagne.
I will keep you posted on this one

The case referred to here also involves phoney certificates by a doctor; but here our colleague definitely sold himself cheap; he wasn't paid more than his usual fee. A man entered his office and demanded to get a certificate of senility for an old lady he knew. The doctor promptly (within a time span of 5 minutes) wrote such a certificate, even though he hadn't seen the old lady for several month and then only briefly.
The receiver of this certificate went to the authorities and got appointed guardian of the same women, whereafter he relieved her estate of half a million NKR (a little under US$ 100.000). Now the police are investigating him, whereas the Board of Health is investigating the doctor. It remains to be seen who has cut the better deal.