Originally published February 2 2006
NIH researcher returns to work after long legal dispute is brought to an end
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Jonathan Fishbein has returned to work for the National Institutes of Health following a long legal battle that followed his firing after voicing reservations about the safety of several important experiments involving AIDS research in the U.S. and Africa.
A medical safety expert whose firing drew national attention to the lack of whistleblower protections in some areas of federal research is back on the government payroll.
The National Institutes of Health's reinstatement of Dr. Jonathan Fishbein settles a two-year battle that prompted investigations into allegations of scientific misconduct and sexual harassment in federal AIDS research.
NIH said he was fired for poor performance even though he had been recommended for a cash performance bonus just weeks before he was notified of his termination.
He was among NIH whistleblowers whose plight was highlighted in Associated Press stories over the last year examining allegations of safety problems with federal AIDS research in the United States and Africa, sexual harassment of female NIH workers and the use of foster children to test AIDS drugs.
Numerous members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, urged NIH not to fire Fishbein, saying he had raised important issues about the way patients are protected in government experiments.
He alleged he was fired because he raised concerns about several studies and filed a formal complaint against one of the division's managers alleging sexual harassment of subordinates and a hostile workplace.
An administrative law judge originally ruled that Fishbein and hundreds of other doctors and medical safety experts like him had no whistleblower protections, like normal federal workers, because they were hired outside the civil service system as special employees at a higher salary.
The report said no documentation was ever provided to him suggesting poor performance until after he complained about the safety in one sensitive AIDS study and filed a formal complaint alleging that the division's deputy director was acting unprofessionally with subordinates.
A subsequent federal investigation concluded at least one of the research institutions in those studies failed to comply with federal safety regulations.
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