Another update to 3/1/09 post

The "culture of noncompliance with the law" apparently lives on. Wasn't this the sort of thing that eventually got attention when Josef Mengele did it?

It's certainly reminiscent of the Nuchterlin-Gitlin schizophrenia studies at the University of California Los Angeles (another lethal study with "consent" from research subjects who apparently didn't quite understand that they were in a research program), except that this latest event is associated with three deaths, instead of the one death and multiple psychotic breaks of the the Nuchterlin-Gitlin studies.

2 UC Davis neurosurgeons accused of experimental surgery are banned from human research

Drs. Muizelaar and Schrot claim they got "consent" to intentionally infect patient's open head wounds with bacteria.  This "consent" had given by patients with known brain damage.  The University, in the face of an NIH audit, banned Muizelaar and Schrot from human research, but also promoted Dr. Muizelaar to an endowed chair. Wow.  Simply wow.  

Parents of former Cal student sue doctor, UC Regents over abuse they say drove son to suicide

ANOTHER NEEDLESS DEATH

A case with similarities to the one which resulted in the death of Sheri Sanji.

Note that the SF VAMC academic partner is UCSF, as described in this paragraph:

"Research is also a key aspect of the VA Medical Service. Facilitated by a VA-based non-profit research organization, SFVAMC-based faculty members are supported by more NIH grants than any other hospital in the VA system and also have access to research funding from the VA and other external sources. VA research ranges from laboratory to clinical and outcomes in focus. The VA is also playing a leading role in the UCSF Clinical and Translational Research Institute, an ambitious NIH effort to stimulate the translation of basic scientific findings to improve individual and population health"

In other words, the VAMC is likely just the landlord for this "VAMC lab."  The lab is likely really run by the University of California.  If so, this death would be the second time in four years that a young healthy lab worker died as a result of conditions in a University of California run  lab.  The lab management is paid to train their workers adequately, and to keep lab conditions safe enough, so that even one death should never happen.  These two deaths are just another example of the pattern of accepting payment (grant monies, which generally include funding for worker training and safety measures) and not actually providing the paid-for service (in these cases, worker training and safety measures adequate to prevent two deaths in ~ 4 years).

UC Berkeley administrator hiked pay for employee she was seeing
And, of course, the University plays it down. No firing, no return of the money, no referral for criminal prosecution. As much omerta as possible under the circumstances.

Update:

After exposure in the press, the University fired Diane Leite, the administrator in question.  No criminal referral has been made, and Ms. Leite will keep her pension.   Jonathan Caniezo, the employee who was the recipient of taxpayer money via her largesse, will keep his job, though perhaps be demoted.