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 16820 signatures
Number Date Name Add a comment
16820 Mon Dec 16 22:38:31 EST 2013 Ms. Carla Compton, Advocate/Activist/Humanist OMG! I am so absolutely shocked at this horror! How sick! How can be be let to happen!??? OMG! Horrifically insane and despicable! A HUGE and DEFINITE "SHAME ON YOU!!!"
16819 Mon Dec 16 20:50:35 EST 2013 Jill Veale-Broads
16818 Mon Dec 16 18:08:28 EST 2013 b walsh
16817 Mon Dec 16 07:50:07 EST 2013 Geraldine Donigan
16816 Sun Dec 15 21:32:54 EST 2013 Amy Storbakken Years ago I interviewed some researchers at the University of Minesota who admitted to routinely falsifying their data on drug safety. They told me they would lose their jobs for reporting the true data. More....
16815 Sun Dec 15 19:38:19 EST 2013 James Harding
16814 Sat Dec 14 18:56:13 EST 2013 Jennifer Van
16813 Sat Dec 14 05:32:44 EST 2013 John Griffin
16812 Tue Dec 10 21:51:15 EST 2013 layne ostwald
16811 Tue Dec 10 11:21:19 EST 2013 Maryse Vrambout
16810 Wed Dec 04 08:38:42 EST 2013 Carlo Fiore
16809 Tue Dec 03 22:28:02 EST 2013 Vito Marinelli
16808 Tue Dec 03 14:03:38 EST 2013 Carole Jo Chi Unconscionable that you would deliberately withhold oxygen from any premature infant without a parent's consent or knowledge! Testing on human subjects without their consent. What the heck!!! Perhaps this More....
16807 Mon Dec 02 03:28:56 EST 2013 Eileen Fortin
16806 Sun Dec 01 02:10:23 EST 2013 Krista Caudill
16805 Mon Nov 25 15:23:02 EST 2013 Jacson Greaser No one should ever risk the health and welfare of a baby.
16804 Thu Nov 21 18:32:46 EST 2013 Lynne Banta
16803 Wed Nov 20 12:16:32 EST 2013 Anonymous
16802 Mon Nov 18 19:20:33 EST 2013 Joanne Gilmore Just an appoligy doesn't seem enough ?If I were to this , as a citizen I would be jailed and fined !
16801 Sun Nov 17 12:05:14 EST 2013 Anonymous Isn't "do no harm" part of the hippocratic oath? People trust and respect their physicians to make life or death decisions. How dare you violate their trust! I was forced to deliver otherwise healthy More....
16800 Fri Nov 15 22:30:28 EST 2013 Anonymous
16799 Fri Nov 15 22:29:18 EST 2013 Dan Melomedman
16798 Fri Nov 15 00:07:58 EST 2013 Steven Dillman
16797 Thu Nov 14 22:42:26 EST 2013 joseph hayden
16796 Wed Nov 13 05:29:57 EST 2013 B. Allan Ross It cannot be said clearer than it was before these 1,316 crimes were committed at 23 different facilities by people with names and addresses, by facilities with names and budgets and licenses -- using More....
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