The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "medical ethics" ...
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Chimps: Life in the Lab
The series examines in detail the ethics and scientific necessity of medical research using chimpanzees. Focusing on a group of about 200 chimps in a federal facility in New Mexico, the stories showed the long-term mental and physical impact of constant medical experimentation of the chimpanzees, and it was revealed how scientists were moving toward a consensus that chimp experimentation was not scientifically necessary.
Tags: chimps; monkeys; animals; animal testing
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"Making a Killing"
A 26-year-old bipolar student enrolled in a drug trial at the University of Minnesota. However, Carl Elliott reveals that the professors who were ran the study knew that the student was probably "not competent to give his consent" because he suffered from "severe psychotic delusions." He was given a powerful antipsychotic and eventually stabbed himself to death. Elliott is "a professor of medical ethics at the University of Minnesota," and believes that the professors who were running the drug study would profit from it and that the student who committed suicide was "coerced" into participating.
Tags: bipolar; drug trial; antipsychotic; Seroquel; University of Minnesota; AstraZeneca
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Selling Drug Secrets
Despite confidentiality contracts, doctors are divulging details of their ongoing drug research - for a fee - to elite investors eager to get an edge in the market. Experts say the practice breaks insider trading laws, violates medical ethics and jeopardizes vital research. And government regulators seem to know nothing about it. We found 26 cases in which doctors leaked confidential and critical details of their ongoing research to Wall Street firms.
Tags: doctors; drug research; pharmaceuticals; insider trading; physicians; medical; CAR
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Hijacking at the Hospital
Novation, a group purchasing organization based in Texas, was created to negotiate lower prices with medical supply manufacturers on behalf of one-third of the hospitals nationwide. It has been accused of actually raising prices and squeezing out small manufacturers. Thanks to an exemption granted by Congress, from anti-kickback laws, Novation is financed by the very manufacturers it's supposed to be fighting.
Tags: doctors; medical supplies; medical ethics; federal government; business ethics; Congress; kickbacks
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"Cancer Cell"; "Hospital of Horrors"
This investigation focuses on the health care -- or lack thereof -- provided for female prisoners at the Carswell Federal Medical Center near Fort Worth, TX, the only prison hospital in the country for mentally and chronically ill or dying women who have been convicted of a federal crime. These stories feature two women in their 40s whose cases were the most egregious. They cover the womens' lives and medical histories in and out of prison, the trail of contradictory documents and misleading statements released by the prison, and the families' struggles to save the womens' lives and find out the truth about the medical care system at Carswell.
Tags: prison; jail; federal government; women prisoners; patients; prisoner abuse; hospitals; doctors; medical malpractice; medical ethics
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Ethical problems plagued brain donations in Maine
This investigation documented the many problems and flaws with a brain-harvesting program run by the state. Problems range from the fact that the man who coordinated the program was paid on a "per-brain basis" and used unethical tactics to solicit consent from families of the deceased. Furthermore, the state medical examiner was linked to both the brain harvester and the researchers who used the brains.
Tags: surgery; transplants; organ donors; tissue banks; research
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Med School Turmoil
Dr. Issam Awad, the chairman of the neurosurgery department at Colorado's only medical schools, was accused by his colleagues of hurting patients, which prompted an investigation by a five-doctor committee that concluded that he gave substandard care in seven of the 10 cases reviewed and committed egregious violations of ethics. A series of FOIA requests and the anonymous mailing of the peer review of Awad's work made this a story that took considerable time and effort.
Tags: Education; Medicine; doctors; neurosurgery; scandal; racism; race; prejudice
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A Study In Ethics
What happens when medical research is conducted without informed consent? The Virginian Pilot details the story of a controversial research experiment conducted by the Eastern Virginia Medical School. The experiment, that required nearly 200 preschoolers to be exposed to a genetically engineered substance, had to be ceased after one parent complained about it being done without their informed consent. The report includes thoughts and opinions by medical ethicists, academicians and the EVMS staff themselves.
Tags: Medicine; Research; Ethics; child care; parent
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Testing, Testing
West magazine found that in the last few years, opportunities for potential human volunteers for therapy and drug trials have boomed. Yet, simultaneously, Americans have also taken more responsibility for their health care.
Tags: medical research; human guinea pigs; medical research studies; medical research subjects; clinical trials; human volunteers; ethics; AZT
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The Rascal
Inside Edition uses hidden camera to reveal deceit and high pressure employed in the sales of the nationally advertised "Rascal" scooter. The report shows how elderly, disabled consumers and their families have been victimized by Electric Mobility, a New Jersey company that produces the electric wheelchairs. The deceptive sale tactics have been taught by the company executives, one of whom was a twice convicted felon, the investigation reports.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; ethics; sales; business; direct marketing; medical devices; patients; salesmen; commercials; advertising; consumer affairs