Biggest Med Fraud Ever-Cancer patients at Duke given experimental treatment based on fabricated data

[kpete]

(CBS News) Chemotherapy can be a tough road for people with cancer, often debilitating and even dangerous. Which is why five years ago, when Duke University announced that it had an advanced, experimental treatment that would match chemotherapy to a patient's own genetic makeup, it was hailed as the holy grail of cancer care. The scientist behind the discovery was Dr. Anil Potti, and soon Dr. Potti became the face of the future of cancer treatment at Duke, offering patients a better chance even with advanced disease. However, when other scientists set out to verify the results, they found many problems and errors. What our 60 Minutes investigation reveals is that Duke's so-called breakthrough treatment wasn't just a failure -- it may end up being one of the biggest medical research frauds ever.


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Baggerly: One of the things that was especially disturbing was that these types of errors happened again and again and again. That was far beyond anything that we'd seen.

They suspected Dr. Potti had somehow reversed some of the data and that some of the patients could be getting, not the best drug for their tumor, but the worst.

Coombes: Then you would be giving patients drugs that would definitely not benefit them. So there's clear, potential for harm there.

Pelley: Exactly the opposite of what this was supposed to be.

THE REST:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57376073/deception-at-duke/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

[bluestateguy]

1. I guess Duke was too busy smearing innocent lacrosse players to notice

I wonder if those 88 professors who signed that slanderous letter proclaiming their guilt will express any outrage at all over this very serious matter.

[DonCoquixote]

2. That's ok

I am sure Florida will welcome him with open arms, maybe even from our governor.

[yardwork]

4. Actually, he's in private practice in South Carolina now. If you mean Dr. Anil Potti.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Thank you, my dear kpete, for this story!

K&R!

[Sgent]

5. Slightly mis-leading headline

This guy (if charges are proved) is a bastard and we should re-evaluate how we modify treatment plans before we have replicated results.

That being, said, I would put Andrew Weil much higher than him on the list of modern medical fraud. Taking money from trial lawyers to completely fabricate a study implicating vaccines which has resulted in 1000's of sick kids and billions in additional money spent for no reason.

[HillWilliam]

6. I hope this doesn't devolve into a "trash Duke UHS" thread

My partner, DUer HillbillyBob, is a 30-year survivor of HIV, cancer, a heart attack, and vascular problems requiring surgeries. He receives stellar care at Duke and they have never once questioned our relationship. He is been in and out of hospital many times over the last year. Each time they've patched him up and got him past some pretty serious stuff.

If it weren't for Duke, I'd likely be a widower now and this post would be quite different. The stress has killer this past couple of years, but there is some comfort in knowing each time we've needed Duke UHS, they've got things right.

In any huge organization there's bound to be a shithead or two. We haven't run into one yet there.