Springfield doctor accused of fabricating research results

By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff

A widely-known Massachusetts anesthesiologist, whose research has influenced how doctors treat surgery patients for pain, has been accused of fabricating results in at least 21 published papers, and in some cases even inventing patients, in what colleagues call one of the largest cases ever of alleged medical research fraud.

Dr. Scott Reuben, who works at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, has published dozens of articles on an important and emerging area of anesthesiology involving the use of more than one type of drug to relieve post-surgical pain and foster faster recovery.

Last May, during a routine review of studies that were to be presented at the hospital's "research week,'' physicians discovered that two abstracts Reuben intended to present had not been approved by an internal hospital review board that oversees research on patients, Dr. Hal Jenson, Baystate's chief academic officer, said today. This discovery led to a full-scale investigation by the hospital, which uncovered 21 papers in which Reuben made up some or all of the data, Jenson said.

The hospital notified the journals about the results of its investigation, and the journals are in the process of retracting Reuben's papers, which were published over 13 years.

"This would be the largest research fraud in anesthesia," said Dr. Steven Shafer, editor of the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia. "Doctors have been using (his) findings very widely. His findings had a huge impact on the field. The act of fabricating data is so difficult for me to comprehend. It's beyond my ability to imagine (why)."

Baystate said Reuben "cooperated fully" in the investigation but would not say whether he admitted the fraud. He has been on medical leave from Baystate since last spring.

His attorney, Ingrid Martin of Boston, said yesterday that she could not comment on the investigation or on whether her client admitted to the allegations. "The proceeding that was carried out by Baystate was peer review and was privileged and confidential and I am endeavoring to keep it that way," she said. "I can confirm he cooperated fully with the peer review and that there were extenuating circumstances that the committee fairly and justly considered."

Martin said Reuben "deeply regrets that all of this happened and with the committee's guidance is taking steps to make sure it never happens again."

In many instances, the studies in question involved positive data about drugs made by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., including Celebrex, Lyrica and Neurontin. The company has given him five research grants and he has been a member of Pfizer's speakers bureau. Company spokeswoman Sally Beatty said the clinical trials that led the US Food and Drug Administration to approve Celebrex and Lyrica for pain did not include Reuben's research.

The fraud allegations were first reported this week by Anesthesiology News.

In a Feb. 20 letter to readers posted online, Shafer said his journal will publish formal retractions of the studies published in Anesthesia and Analgesia in May as well as two editorials addressing the impact on "what we thought we knew, what we lost, and what we still know.''