The contentious debate over ghostwriting shows no sign of abating. Even the definition of ghostwriting – the mysterious practice in which an article lands in a medical journal with the name of an author who, as it turns out, had little or nothing to do with the substance of the publication – prompts argument. Meanwhile, the issue has caused several scandals for several drugmakers and medical journals, causing embarrassment and turmoil.
So what to do? A pair of University of Toronto academics suggests two legal remedies – pursuing class action lawsuits based on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, and filing claims of ‘fraud on the court’ against a drugmaker that uses ghostwritten articles in litigation. They make their case in an article that was published in PLoS Medicine (here is the article).
As they explain, peer-reviewed articles are cited as credible sources of evidence in lawsuits to support claims about safety and effectiveness, and for determining liability. And they note that industry-controlled studies prepared by ghostwriters or guest authors – someone who is invited to have their name placed on a study – may distort perceptions about safety and effectiveness.
“By facilitating publication in peer-reviewed journals, guest authorship creates the impression that standards of academic independence and integrity have been satisfied even when they have not, and makes it more likely that the research will be treated as legally admissible even when this is inappropriate,” they write.
“Publications on which academics appear as guest authors also give credibility to these authors in the legal setting. These articles are sometimes used to establish an expert witness’s authority, even when the validity of the research in the article is the very issue under dispute. As a result, the treatment of the guest author as a legal expert may prevent scrutiny of the practice that is being challenged for contributing to serious harm”…
Ed seems to understand RICO. As a legal dunce, I don’t know much.
Wikipedia says:
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows for the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them, closing a perceived loophole that allowed someone who told a man to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because they did not actually do it. RICO was enacted by section 901(a) of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (Pub.L. 91-452, 84 Stat. 922, enacted October 15, 1970). RICO is codified as Chapter 96 of Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968. While its original use was to prosecute the Mafia as well as others who were actively engaged in organized crime, its application has been more widespread…
As I read it, RICO is a law to allow prosecution of the leaders of the syndicate that masterminded the crimes of their subordinates. It’s an intriguing idea that fits well for the ghostwriting [and other shady activities] ordered by the upper level pharmaceutical executives. It fits the problem of the pharmaceutical invasion of psychiatry to a tee. It’s clear that the egregious corporate behavior behind the egregious medical behavior of the willing academicians is crime – not business. RICO is for prosecuting crime. This blog and countless others continue to document criminal behavior, widespread, blatant. These are more than lapses of the medical ethic. These are activities that are consciously conceived making huge profits at the expense of consumers finances and sometimes health. To end this behavior, the penalties need to be felt by the shareholders in the companies, by the doctors who participated, and by the executives that completely lost sight of the industry they work in. In a former time, our favorite, Dr. Nemeroff, was called the "boss of bosses" – a Mafia term. It was fitting. The academic physicians partially listed for us by Senator Grassley and Paul Thacker were like the characters at the "henchmen" level in an Organized Crime family. But the bosses in the corporate offices of the pharmaceutical companies were the true Mafioso – the warring families. I hope someone pursues the RICO avenue. Beside actually prosecuting the people who need prosecuting, it names the behavior – crime – Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
They wouldn’t practice a little bit of honesty way back when and now many, many people deserve RICO indictments.
Keep up the good work.