Fraudulent drug research involving intravenous fluid management using colloids may have compromised surgery outcomes of millions of patients

The Telegraph reports that fraudulent drug research involving intravenous fluid management using colloids may have compromised the surgery outcomes of millions of patients.

Many of my blogposts are about fraud involving drug research. Too many members of the medical profession have what is called 'a conflict of interest'. Put simply, this means that they are receiving payments/bribes/inducements of some kind from a pharmaceutical drug company in order to lie about the efficacy and/or safety of the company's drug/s in order to swell the profits of the company. When criminal court cases result from this fraud and from the massive harm and suffering caused to patients, the usual sanction is a huge fine on the company, but huge though the fines are, they pale into insignificance in comparision to the profits made by the fraudulent research claims, and are regarded as reasonable costs by the drug companies. This is why the fraud continues to flourish and why it is unwise to trust drug research findings.

It is vanishingly rare for any individuals involved in the criminality to suffer punishment personally. But in this case, the anaesthetist involved, Joachim Boldt, is at the centre of a criminal investigation. Let us hope that if found guilty he will receive a punishment of imprisonment appropriate to the suffering and worry his greed has caused to millions of patients, and that it will deter other members of the medical profession from being tempted into research fraud.