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Café Scientifique: Can't You Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow? Why medical researchers stay silent about dangers to human subjects

Posted by GHO Admin on October 16, 2017 in Events

Date: Thurs. Oct. 19, 2017 @ 7 - 9 PM
Location: The Nook, 2118 Gottingen St. Halifax (Come early. Seating is limited. No reservations.)


Come listen to Dr. Carl Elliott (MD, PhD) present on his research and experience as a whistleblower exposing the abuses of medical research. Join the conversation to follow.

SUMMARY: The past half-century has seen many medical research scandals, but few of them have been exposed by whistleblowers. In many scandals, doctors and nurses have stayed silent for years, even when they have seen research subjects being shamefully mistreated. In the handful of cases where medical insiders have worked up the courage to speak out publicly, the result has been professional vilification. This raises a larger and more important question. Why are research whistleblowers so rare?

PRESENTER: Carl Elliott is Professor in the Center for Bioethics and the Department of Pediatrics, and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Philosophy and the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Minnesota. He is the author or editor of seven books, including White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine (Beacon, 2010) and Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream (Norton, 2003.) His articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The London Review of Books, Mother Jones, The New York Times and The New England Journal of Medicine. In 2011 the Austen Riggs Center awarded him its Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. He blogs at Fear and Loathing in Bioethics.

SPONSORS: NTE Impact Ethics, Dalhousie University, Canada Research Chairs Program

For more information, access the Facebook posting for this event