Research fraud: Dr. Reuben now claims he had “bipolar disorder” which caused him to fake clinical trials

(NaturalNews) – Defense attorneys for the perpetrator of one of the largest research frauds in history have claimed that their client, Scott S. Reuben, MD, suffered from “serious, but undiagnosed” bipolar disorder that led him to fabricate data and otherwise falsify his research.

Reuben graduated from medical school in 1985, and soon became a widely published and cited pain researcher. By 2009, he had published at least 72 research studies, and his work had led to a major change in the way pain is treated. But a routine audit in 2008 at Baystate Medical Center, where Reuben had worked since 1991, uncovered discrepancies in Reuben’s research. This led to allegations that Reuben had not actually conducted many (or even any) of the studies that his supposedly groundbreaking findings had been based on.

More than 20 of Reuben’s papers have since been retracted. He has pleaded guilty to fabricating data and patients, and has also been accused of adding the names of uninvolved co-authors without their permission. He has agreed to repay $361,932 in research funding to several pharmaceutical companies, and $50,000 in penalties to the U.S. government.

MSM: Mass. doctor pleads guilty to research fraud

‘Prosecutors alleged the former chief of acute pain at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield sought and received research grants from pharmaceutical companies but never performed the studies. They said he fabricated patient data and submitted information to anesthesiology journals that unwittingly published it.’
(AP) – A doctor accused of faking research for a dozen years in published studies that suggested after-surgery benefits from painkillers including Vioxx and Celebrex pleaded guilty Monday to one count of federal health care fraud.