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 16870 signatures
Number Date Name Add a comment
16870 Thu Jul 03 00:53:30 EDT 2014 Anonymous We need the Class Act part of the healthcare law for the many people who need it now or will in the near future! Tn needs many more NewDEAL democratic coalition, alliance, democrats to help in all areas More....
16869 Sun Jun 29 23:37:21 EDT 2014 michele pintello
16868 Mon Jun 16 23:28:11 EDT 2014 CJ KOMESZ
16867 Sun Jun 15 18:16:44 EDT 2014 John Michael Brennan
16866 Fri Jun 13 13:28:37 EDT 2014 Thomas V. Connor
16865 Tue Jun 10 20:50:57 EDT 2014 john wade
16864 Tue Jun 10 19:30:17 EDT 2014 Maureen Angie Absten What happened to informed consent?
16863 Fri Jun 06 19:55:27 EDT 2014 RICKY SLOAN
16862 Tue Jun 03 19:53:13 EDT 2014 Josephine Spannaus You should be ashamed of yourself.
16861 Sun May 25 03:33:25 EDT 2014 Marguerite Joan Galimitakis
16860 Fri May 23 15:07:33 EDT 2014 Anonymous
16859 Fri May 23 10:37:40 EDT 2014 Cynthia Marie Lippman
16858 Wed May 21 16:44:29 EDT 2014 Tiffany Garrity
16857 Wed May 21 16:23:23 EDT 2014 bootsy mcbride coonio
16856 Tue May 20 21:14:52 EDT 2014 Mary Kate Ziesmer So this is why she resigned. It really should be put out there to the public in full force.
16855 Fri May 09 10:31:09 EDT 2014 Dimitris Dallis
16854 Wed Apr 16 15:12:26 EDT 2014 Francine Harvey Its clear that Obamacare is not about caring. Obama "Death Panels" for infants or at best blindness inducing NAZI like experiments. Maybe lampshades can be made from the skin of the dead babies and sold More....
16853 Sat Apr 12 16:36:23 EDT 2014 chris flood
16852 Mon Apr 07 14:39:03 EDT 2014 Alexis Maestre-Saborit The Health in United States is Businees,Poor People is only Segregation.
16851 Wed Mar 26 21:13:33 EDT 2014 Donna Zoll How low can you go?
16850 Fri Mar 21 11:05:06 EDT 2014 Alice Weston Apologies are not adequate. Start with an independent investigation, and firing of Sebelius for the disasterous Obamacare that treats health care as a commodity, not a human right and public good.
16849 Fri Mar 21 10:39:47 EDT 2014 Laurey Morris Get rid of the individual insurance mandate. Open,improve and expand Medicare for All citizens, include midwifery, vision, heairng, dental and long-term care, and complimentary medicine. Break the chain More....
16848 Thu Mar 20 10:23:52 EDT 2014 Rhiannon Maher As a former premie I can't believe babies we're put it further danger apologize
16847 Wed Mar 19 18:20:16 EDT 2014 Vincent Licitra In trying to do good, often you end up making things worse. These concerns must be properly weighed. Please show some humility and give back some dignity to people who've been harmed.
16846 Wed Mar 19 18:20:02 EDT 2014 Vincent Licitra In trying to do good, often you end up making things worse. These concerns must be properly weighed. Please show some humility and give back some dignity to people who've been harmed.
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