Three former editors of the New England Journal of Medicine have called for an investigation.

So have nearly 300 experts in health law and medical ethics. A Medical Journal of Australia editorial has compared it to the notorious Tuskegee syphilis study. Yet the University of Minnesota, where the research scandal occurred, does not even consider it worth looking into.

Investigate Research Abuse at the University of Minnesota

In late 2003, psychiatric researchers at the University of Minnesota recruited a mentally ill young man named Dan Markingson into a profitable, industryfunded research study of antipsychotic drugs. The researchers signed him up over the objections of his mother, Mary Weiss, and despite the fact that he had repeatedly been judged incapable of making his own medical decisions. Even worse, Dan had been placed under an involuntary commitment order that legally compelled him to obey the recommendations of the psychiatrist who recruited him into the study.

For nine years Mary has fought the university unsuccessfully, trying to get justice. When her lawsuit was dismissed on technical grounds of sovereign immunity, the university lawyers retaliated by filing a legal action against her called a notice to assess costs, demanding that she pay the university $57,000 in legal fees.

For months, Mary tried desperately to get Dan out of the study, warning that he was getting worse and that he was in danger of committing suicide. But her warnings were ignored. On April 23, 2004, she left a voice message with the study coordinator, asking, Do we have to wait for him to kill himself or someone else before anyone does anything? Three weeks later, Dan committed suicide in the most violent way imaginable. His body was discovered in the shower of a halfway house. His throat was cut so severely that he was nearly decapitated. Near his body was a note that said, I left this experience smiling.

She may not be alone. Over the past year evidence has emerged suggesting that other mentally ill patients may have been harmed or mistreated in research studies. Yet the university refuses to answer questions or investigate complaints.

FOR THIS REASON, WE ARE CALLING ON GOV. DAYTON TO APPOINT AN EXTERNAL PANEL TO INVESTIGATE THIS DEATH AND POSSIBLY OTHERS.

WWW. DANMARKINGSON.COM

PLEASE FIND OUT MORE AND SIGN OUR ONLINE PETITION ON CHANGE.ORG BY GOOGLING MARKINGSON PETITION