Demand Kathleen Sebelius Apologize to Parents of Babies Endangered in Study

Tell Health and Human Services Secretary to Apologize for Unethical Experiment that Exposed Premature Infants to Risk of Death and Blindness and Prevent Similar Failures in the Future

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should personally apologize to the parents of 1,316 premature infants who were exposed to increased risk of blindness and death as part of a clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health and held throughout the U.S. several years ago because they were not informed of the risks to their babies or the true nature and purpose of the research.

Add Your Name to the Petition to Secretary Sebelius


We, the undersigned, call on you to apologize to each of the parents of the premature infants enrolled in the unethical trial at 23 U.S. medical centers. This apology should be accompanied by a complete divulgence of the previously undisclosed information regarding the nature, purpose, and risks of the research.

We also urge you to take the following actions:

  • Direct the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) to require each participating institution to submit corrective action for avoiding such serious deficiencies in the consent process for future research.
  • Launch an independent investigation into how the HHS system for review and oversight of clinical trials failed so miserably. This should include an assessment of all entities within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or other HHS agencies that played a role in the review, approval and funding of the study.
  • Determine what system-wide actions are necessary to prevent similar future failures.
  • Identify and suspend any similarly unethical ongoing research involving premature infants that is funded by NIH or any other HHS agency.

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Background


The trial, known as the SUPPORT study, was conducted between 2005 and 2009 at 23 prominent research facilities throughout the country, including the Stanford University School of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, Brown University, Duke University and University of Alabama at Birmingham.

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1-25 of 16906 signatures
Number Date Name Add a comment
16906 Thu Jan 29 19:32:20 EST 2015 Rachel cornish I cannot believe this was allowed to happen!! Never heard about this in the news! Was it covered up? Shame on you
16905 Thu Jan 29 19:31:52 EST 2015 Rachel cornish I cannot believe this was allowed to happen!! Never heard about this in the news! Was it covered up? Shame on you
16904 Thu Jan 29 16:31:28 EST 2015 Ryan Burgess
16903 Fri Jan 23 15:55:34 EST 2015 Thomas Johnson
16902 Wed Jan 21 15:38:52 EST 2015 Mary F While you're at it, check into why Kaiser Permanente (Portland - perhaps everywhere) tested a significant number of their insured for AIDS, without their knowledge & only notified them after the More....
16901 Wed Jan 21 14:23:20 EST 2015 Alicia Villanueva
16900 Wed Jan 07 11:49:59 EST 2015 Lynne Banta
16899 Wed Jan 07 11:49:50 EST 2015 Lynne Banta
16898 Wed Jan 07 11:49:42 EST 2015 Lynne Banta
16897 Tue Jan 06 23:03:04 EST 2015 Catherine white
16896 Sun Jan 04 09:29:46 EST 2015 Rennie Miller
16895 Wed Dec 17 05:22:05 EST 2014 Mary Ann Andruscavage Protect premature babies.
16894 Mon Dec 08 21:13:25 EST 2014 Marissa Gray
16893 Sun Dec 07 00:23:22 EST 2014 John Taylor Jr
16892 Sat Dec 06 17:28:53 EST 2014 Anonymous
16891 Wed Dec 03 19:12:19 EST 2014 Bernadette Webster This kind of behavior seems absolutely criminal.
16890 Wed Nov 19 07:59:39 EST 2014 Cynthia Grim
16889 Sun Nov 16 03:59:05 EST 2014 Anonymous
16888 Tue Nov 11 14:30:52 EST 2014 Susan Courrejou Imagine how this could have affected your own family!
16887 Tue Nov 11 14:30:40 EST 2014 Susan Courrejou Imagine how this could have affected your own family!
16886 Mon Nov 10 11:12:25 EST 2014 Tina King
16885 Wed Nov 05 18:04:11 EST 2014 Kathleen Fields
16884 Wed Nov 05 18:03:58 EST 2014 Kathleen Fields
16883 Thu Oct 23 16:45:24 EDT 2014 Jim Lamon
16882 Mon Oct 20 16:26:23 EDT 2014 NEIL STECKER
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