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.

Spread the Word


share on Facebook

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.

Learn More


Optional Member Code


1-25 of 16927 signatures
Number Date Name Add a comment
16927 Tue Mar 14 17:20:37 EDT 2017 Anonymous Speechless and sharing with my 8 and 11 year old children, so they understand that living in the good ol' USA is truly a survival of the fittest! They are educating their friends and classmates about how More....
16926 Wed Mar 08 00:46:26 EST 2017 Anonymous This is evil and heinous.
16925 Wed Mar 08 00:45:27 EST 2017 Elizabeth Franchuk
16924 Wed Mar 08 00:45:27 EST 2017 Elizabeth Franchuk
16923 Sat Feb 11 23:52:00 EST 2017 Cristina Beltran
16922 Sun Feb 05 10:33:14 EST 2017 Nancy Welliver
16921 Thu Feb 02 15:09:15 EST 2017 Anonymous
16920 Mon Jan 30 22:30:04 EST 2017 carolyn O'Loughlin
16919 Fri Jan 27 21:52:40 EST 2017 Jennifer Veron
16918 Fri Jan 27 20:17:38 EST 2017 Patricia Hilton This was and is an absolutely abomination! Will these "experiments" on our children ever stop? How could they prey on our most vulnerable premises? I hope everyone involved in this atrocity goes to jail More....
16917 Thu Jan 26 19:43:02 EST 2017 Lowell Hubbs
16916 Sat Dec 03 18:34:19 EST 2016 Anonymous This violates the right to informed consent, and puts the most vulnerable in a dangerous place.
16915 Wed Oct 12 04:49:17 EDT 2016 Jade Chen Being born very premature myself (and 30 years later, I was almost destroyed by powerful and dangerous psychotropic drugs by an unethical, lawbreaker psychiatrist in an East Asian Province), I More....
16914 Sat Oct 10 22:46:44 EDT 2015 Jo Ellen Bate
16913 Fri Sep 04 15:02:54 EDT 2015 Leslie Hatcher This violates right to informed consent, and so many other ethical standards set by federal regulation to ensure ethics in research. How is this happening? Why is the NIH funding medical abuse of vulnerable More....
16912 Wed Apr 29 20:48:10 EDT 2015 Anonymous Do not use forced medicalization on any body.
16911 Sun Apr 12 12:25:39 EDT 2015 Anonymous
16910 Tue Apr 07 20:56:15 EDT 2015 Anonymous
16909 Wed Apr 01 16:04:03 EDT 2015 myron gross
16908 Sat Jan 31 07:09:20 EST 2015 Gary Anderson experiment on Kathy!
16907 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
16906 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
16905 Thu Jan 29 16:31:28 EST 2015 Ryan Burgess
16904 Fri Jan 23 15:55:34 EST 2015 Thomas Johnson
16903 Wed Jan 21 14:23:20 EST 2015 Alicia Villanueva
Next ->

Copyright © 2016 Public Citizen. All rights reserved. This Web site is shared by Public Citizen Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation.
Learn More about the distinction between these two components of Public Citizen.


Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation

Together, two separate corporate entities called Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation, Inc., form Public Citizen. Both entities are part of the same overall organization, and this Web site refers to the two organizations collectively as Public Citizen.

Although the work of the two components overlaps, some activities are done by one component and not the other. The primary distinction is with respect to lobbying activity. Public Citizen, Inc., an IRS § 501(c)(4) entity, lobbies Congress to advance Public Citizen’s mission of protecting public health and safety, advancing government transparency, and urging corporate accountability. Public Citizen Foundation, however, is an IRS § 501(c)(3) organization. Accordingly, its ability to engage in lobbying is limited by federal law, but it may receive donations that are tax-deductible by the contributor. Public Citizen Inc. does most of the lobbying activity discussed on the Public Citizen Web site. Public Citizen Foundation performs most of the litigation and education activities discussed on the Web site.

You may make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., Public Citizen Foundation, or both. Contributions to both organizations are used to support our public interest work. However, each Public Citizen component will use only the funds contributed directly to it to carry out the activities it conducts as part of Public Citizen’s mission. Only gifts to the Foundation are tax-deductible. Individuals who want to join Public Citizen should make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., which will not be tax deductible.

To become a member of Public Citizen, click here.
To become a member and make an additional tax-deductible donation to Public Citizen Foundation, click here.