WEST LOS ANGELES: VA Hospital Fires Research Director
After federal officials announced they would halt research at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Healthcare Center, hospital officials yesterday fired the acting director of research and formed an interim board to bring the hospital back into compliance with federal research guidelines. "There's really no excuse for it. I really have no defense. The institution should have complied with this. This was the direct responsbility of the person in charge of research. That person has been removed," said Dr. Dean Norman, acting chief of staff at the hospital (White, AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/25). Dr. John Feussner, chief research and development officer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said it will likely take the hospital 30 to 90 days to correct the problems before research can resume, but added that the VA will continue to monitor the hospital for at least a year (Hilts, New York Times, 3/25). Today's Los Angeles Times profiles an internal investigation from the hospital revealing questionable cardiology research (Monmaney, 3/25).
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