I was contacted in January, 2009, by a young reporter for the Village Voice called Elizabeth Dwoskin, who asked me to help her investigate the ICC story, and provide sources for her investigation. She told me her interest was in helping the children affected by the drug studies. I offered help by email and telephone, by providing material and sources for her work.
At present, Columbia Presbyterian is holding patients’ medical records hostage. They will not release medical records, neither to any investigating body, nor to the young adults who were put through medical experiments under the auspices of Columbia/Presbyterian and the National Institutes of Health.
These children can’t get their own medical records. The question I hope you will be asking throughout is:
- What can we do to get Columbia Presbyterian to release medical records to the ICC trial participants?
- Who can we write, petition or legally pressure, so that young people who were used in studies, or their families (because at least 200 children died in and after the studies), can read their own medical records?
According to the VERA Institute report, twenty-five children died in the drug studies, an additional fifty-five children died following the studies (in foster care), and, according to Tim Ross, Director of the Child Welfare program at VERA, 29% of the remaining 417 children who were used in drug studies are now dead (out of a total 532 children that are admitted to have been used. [AHRP on VERA report | VERA interview]
WBAI New York Covers the Story:
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