Community Corner

NIH Under Scrutiny for Studies on Premature Babies

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said a study on treatments for the babies did not meet requirements for informed consent.

Were the parents of premature babies properly informed of the risks associated with a study on oxygen treatment funded by Bethesda-based National Institutes of Health? A health watchdog group said the parents were not properly informed and is calling for a halt to all similar studies funded by NIH, according to a report from Public News Service. 

"Those risks included, depending upon which group the children were in, the possibility of blindness, the possibility of brain injury and the possibility even of death from insufficient oxygen," Dr. Michael Carome, deputy director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, told Public News Service.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the study violated requirements for informed consent, the report stated.

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Read more about the study at www.publicnewsservice.org.

Dr. Carome, along with doctors involved in the original study, appeared on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show last week. Listen to the interview here.

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This article has been updated to clarify that NIH-funded studies are at issue.


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