Misbehaving Neurosurgeons Are Banned From Experimental Research
Neurosurgeons experimenting on terminally ill brain cancer patients made the news in July when The Sacramento Bee revealed that two UC Davis neurosurgeons had been reported to the FDA and subsequently banned from performing experimental medical research on humans. After obtaining patient consent, the two surgeons, J. Paul Muizelaar and Rudolph Schrot, had infected three glioblastoma patients with Enterobacter aerogenes bacteria. Two of the patients quickly died from sepsis, the third lived for another year.
The pair had based their work on the controversial theory that post-operative “probiotic” infections can trigger life-prolonging immune responses. Muizelaar and Schrot reportedly thought the experimental procedure was FDA approved.
It wasn't. Turns out, introducing a biological agent into an experimental surgery requires additional regulatory steps. Muizelaar is now on leave from the university.
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