German cancer specialist cleared of fraud allegations
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《英国医生杂志》
In the aftermath of a serious fraud scandal in German medical science, one of the main protagonists, former cancer specialist Friedhelm Herrmann from Ulm University, is to be allowed to keep his professorship and must not publicly be called a forger.
Last week, the district attorney of Berlin and Professor Herrmann抯 lawyer reached an agreement that the case will not be taken to court after all.
The accusations date back to 1997 when Herrmann and his former coworker Marion Brach, who were both professors at the University of Lübeck, were accused by a whistleblower in their research group. The whistleblower said they had forged several research papers on haematology, such as the use of cytokines and gene therapy, during their time at the universities in Mainz, Freiburg, and Berlin.
Consequently, Professor Herrmann and Dr Brach left academic medicine. Professor Herrmann is still practising medicine in Munich, whereas Dr Brach, who denied any guilt, left for the United States.
In 2000, a task force of scientists engaged by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (the German Research Foundation) concluded that 94 of Professor Herrmann抯 347 research papers contained manipulated data (BMJ 2000;321:71). Only 132 publications were cleared of any suspicion of fraud.
However, the foundation, the main funder of German research, as well as other sponsors of Professor Herrmann抯 scientific work, failed to find Professor Herrmann guilty of having acquired grants of several hundred thousand euros on the basis of forged scientific results.
Instead, the district attorney of Berlin and Professor Herrmann抯 lawyer agreed on a minor payment of �8000 (￡5300;$10 000) and to stop further legal investigation into the case. According to current law, Professor Herrmann抯 guilt was labelled as negligible, repetition was thought to be unlikely, and the public interest appeared to be small.(Heidelberg Annette Tuffs)
Last week, the district attorney of Berlin and Professor Herrmann抯 lawyer reached an agreement that the case will not be taken to court after all.
The accusations date back to 1997 when Herrmann and his former coworker Marion Brach, who were both professors at the University of Lübeck, were accused by a whistleblower in their research group. The whistleblower said they had forged several research papers on haematology, such as the use of cytokines and gene therapy, during their time at the universities in Mainz, Freiburg, and Berlin.
Consequently, Professor Herrmann and Dr Brach left academic medicine. Professor Herrmann is still practising medicine in Munich, whereas Dr Brach, who denied any guilt, left for the United States.
In 2000, a task force of scientists engaged by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (the German Research Foundation) concluded that 94 of Professor Herrmann抯 347 research papers contained manipulated data (BMJ 2000;321:71). Only 132 publications were cleared of any suspicion of fraud.
However, the foundation, the main funder of German research, as well as other sponsors of Professor Herrmann抯 scientific work, failed to find Professor Herrmann guilty of having acquired grants of several hundred thousand euros on the basis of forged scientific results.
Instead, the district attorney of Berlin and Professor Herrmann抯 lawyer agreed on a minor payment of �8000 (￡5300;$10 000) and to stop further legal investigation into the case. According to current law, Professor Herrmann抯 guilt was labelled as negligible, repetition was thought to be unlikely, and the public interest appeared to be small.(Heidelberg Annette Tuffs)